Bethany Ford - A Young Justice Novel
by petvet2b25
Summary: Bethany Ford accidentally travels to the Young Justice Universe and joins them. With their guidance, she learns to love and face her own fears. Learn what it's like to meet the Young Justice team for the first time and to go on new adventures with them. Together, Bethany will discover love, friendship, family, and heart-pounding adventure. A daring, bold, and heart-leaping novel.
1. Introduction

THIS IS THE INTRO! YOU CAN SKIP TO CHAPTER ONE IF YOU WANT. BUT THIS IS JUST AN EXPLANATION OF WHY I AM WRITING THIS BOOK

Okay, so I am a HUGGEE fan of the Young Justice tv series. Anyone that likes either adventure, DC Nation, fighting, mystery, suspense, or action, PLEASE watch Young Justice. I also love the BatFamily. In this story, Dick Grayson is actually 15 and is a sophmore. So that's just one change from the original Young Justice storyline.

In this story, the main character, Bethany Ford, is actually just a bad-ass version of a character that resembles myself.

Please bear with me. In the first two chapters, the Young Justice team doesn't make an appearance yet. This is because I needed to give an introduction to what the main character's (Bethany Ford) background is. I wanted to give you guys an idea of what kind of home she has been living in and what kind of person she is. What she has been through and what her attitude is. I wanted the readers to become as attached to her as I am. Chapter 3 is when Young Justice appears. The point of views will also be changing around because I want to carry out parts of the plot, but I can't do that with just one character.

So without further ado...

a daring, bold, and heart-leaping novel.


	2. So Much for a Good-For-Nothing Girl

18:15 pm

The angry lashes on my back were still burning as my mother raised the large wooden spoon a final time. My natural instict was to turn around and catch her wrist when she tried to hit me. I would twist her arm, throw her at the counter, then pin her arm to her back, and start slapping her with my bare hands. But I didn't. I couldn't. If I did, I might not have been able to stop. It would take over again. I would have to run away, but I would have nowhere to go. So instead, I tensed my back and braced for the final impact with the thich wooden spoon. As the spoon was about to whip my back, I moved forward and leaned into the counter really fast so I could sofen the blow. It was the least I could do.

"You stupid, good-for-nothing, lazy, little girl!" My mom spat at me as I turned around to glare at her. If looks could kill, well, my mom would have been dead a long time ago. "All you do is just sit around while I am down here working so hard for the food tonight!" She was wrong. If she knew what I was really doing upstairs - "and your attitude is horrible!"

"You shouldn't have voluteered to host the dinner if you couldn't do it yourself." I quietly mumbled.

"What was that?!" My mom shouted in my ear.

"I didn't say anything!" I exclaimed putting my hands up innocently, although it was totally a lie. My mom slapped me again, just for good measure.

"Make dessert for the guests. Make a cake. When you're done, go upstairs and put some pants on and look presentable."

"Fuck you too, bitch." I mumbled as I shuffled around the kitchen to make a stupid dumb-ass cake.

(19:15 pm) When I was done an hour later, I jogged up the stairs and stormed into my room. I had one last look at myself in the mirror. My simple brown eyes had those gold specks in them again. My almost black hair was long and striaght as I threw it into a low ponytail. I was ready.

It was time. This was what I had spend hours upon hours planning for a month. I was actually going to do it! I had it all planned out. I picked out all the most _practical_ clothes. The clothes that I chose were specific to not only stealth, but for in the case of a fight, endurance, and enhanced comfort, and I chose specific layers that would allow me to stay outside, whether it was cold or hot.

I slipped out of my jean shorts and into flexible black, non-shiny leggings (more stealth and coverage), got into a black sports bra, and wiggled into a tight fitting black, long-sleeved Under Armour shirt. I pulled on a black hooded sweatshirt and laced up my black running shoes. I made sure that the shoes didn't have any reflectors on it. Can't have anyone spotting me.

I grabbed the small black backpack that was already peeking out form beneath my bed and I placed an unsympathetic note on my desk. I had written it a month ago. Mainly, it said:

_ "Sorry, bitches. You guys were too much of a bitch for me to handle, so I'm taking a long leave_

_ absence to clear my hear. I'll be back and better, bitches!"_

_ Fuck you, _

_ Bethany FORD_

(19:30 pm) It was kind of a slap in the face to my mom because "Norwood" was supposed to be my last name, but "Ford" was my real dad's name before he died. When he died, my mom married someone about 2 seconds later, and the devil inside of her began to reveal its true self. I guess I had my suspicions before.

With my small backpack strapped on tightly, I quickly slid the window pane upard and climbed onto the window sill. And jumped.

On my way down, I made a quick prayer that no one was watching as I tucked my body in and landed in a roll. I stopped rolling and stopped in a kneel (like a Tim Tebow stance). I could almost hear my father exclaiming "Ace!" I had been juping off that roof since I was 9. Sometimes my stepdad would lock me in my room for weeks. Jumping out the window was the only way I could get anywhere, even school.

I slowly lifted my head to scan my surroundings. Clear. I started off down 13th street in a sprint. They'll find out I'm gone and come looking for me. Objective #1: Get as much distance between you and your pursuers. It'll buy you more time to make an official plan.

The sun was already seting at the unnatural tinge of orange-yellow. Shit. I had already lost 1 hour of my escape time because I was forced to bake a freaking cake for my mom-monster. Or momster. Whatever was catchier.

(19:45 pm) I passed by one of the abandoned apartment complexes my read dad used to take me to so that he could help me work on my sparring skills. The temptation to just hide in the abandoned apartment kep viciously pulling me towards it. I shook my head. Note #1: Never go to a place that's familiar. It increases your chance of being found by about 65%, and I wasn't willing to take that risk.

Instead, I ran to the dark alley opposite it, the one with dozens of stray alley cats lounging around. They were never afraid of humans. If you touched them, they wouldn't run away. They would just purr. I stripped off my clothes and wrapped my short robe around me. i was completely naked underneath the robe, so I was freezing. I had to act fast. I tied each article of clothing to a different cat and let them run off with a piece of my clothing tied tightly to their back.

(20:15 pm) I quickly shuffled to the closed perfume store that was under the rug. The owner of the perfume store told me that I could come in any time. She knew how much my momster whipped me. I entered the store, dropped the bath robe, and started running around the store. Naked. I sprayed myself with so much perfume, it must have been inoxicating. I spritzed on everything she had in the store. Then I opened one of the cabinets that was in the back of the store and grabbed the new black douffel that had been untouched for about 1 month.

Last month, I had ordered 2 black bags, and 2 sets of the same exact black outfits. The first set of black clothes and small backpack had my scent all over it. The second had been shipped directly to the store and the owner, who didn't look at it, but she just hid it in the back of the store for me. I had told her what to do with it without telling her what I was doing. I can't have anybody know what I was doing ahead of time. The douffel was clear of my scent.

I opened up the bag to look at my weapons and getaway supplies. I pulled out the new pair of non-shiny leggings, black sports bra and underwear, and long sleeved Under Armour shirt. I didn't wear the new sweatshirt, but I did wear some fashionable (but practical) dark brown combat boots. I laced up my boots and pulled out the weapons in the bag, which included knives and my father's handgun, which I had secretly kept. I tucked one pocket knife into each boot, snapped on my poorly constructed, homemade "utility belt" (as I liked to call it), and strapped the handgun to the holster on the belt. I grabbed the new douffel, which had a stash of getaway money and unscented food. I quickly fled the perfume store leaving it seemingly untouched. I continued running down the never ending street, police sirens blaring through the streets, heading to my house where they would most likely use the search dogs.

(20:30) Rule #2: Lose your scent. If search dogs are with your pursuers, your chances of being found are increased by 95%. By losing my old scent with the cats, I should lead the search dogs and police in a wild goose chase. In spraying myself with over 50 perfumes and using different clothes that I have never touched before, my scent should be masked long enough for me to get out of the city.

As I turned tthe corner to head down yet another dark alley, a flash of light on the cold brick walls caught my attention. I rolled behind a trash can and crouched down. As I peered past the can, a pure white beam of light sliced through the air and struck the brick wall.

"Holy shit, mother of all-" I began to whisper in awe, until I saw the small box that was creating the light. It was just sitting on the ground facing the wall, a white light slicing from it and landing on the wall. It looked similar to a transformer's rubix cube made out of metal. It was making soft and soothing beeping noises.

As I inched towards the beeping contractionl, I tried to rest my hand on the nearby brick wall with the white light on it. My hand went right through it! I had read a lot about crazy alien technology, but I never actually thought that it was real! If anything, it could be a teleporter.

"Whatever, might as well." I mumbled with a shrug. It's not like I had anywhere else to go. At the most, I predicted that I would be found in a matter of 2 weeks. I picked up the beeping box and jumped through the light so no one could follow me.

Right as I entered, I felt a large calloused hand on my shoulder. I was about to yell out in surprise and attack them, but the light was so blinding that I had to close my eyes and I couldn't move. It was like I was frozen. Red dots started to dance under my eyelids and the corners started to become fuzzy. Black started to creep in from all sides of my eyeliids. My chest felt like there was a band aorun dit and I couldn't breathe. My head felt like it was expanding and my eyes were bulging through my eyelids. I tried to scream, but absoluely nothing cam out until my body began to completely submerge into the sharp light and my vision tunneled into darkness.


	3. How to Throw Your Life Away in One Step

2400

The first thing I felt was icy cold concrete underneath my back. I cracked my eyelids open just a bit to take in my surroundings. My internal clock said it must have been 12 o'clock in the morning. I had been unconscious for about 3 1/2 hours. The sky was pitch black. The only light there was, was from a nearby lamp. I was laying in the middle of what looked to be a deserted parking lot surrounded with thick trees and bushes. I must be in the parking lot of a park. In the near distance, tall buildings and skyscrapers were crammed together and towered over racing cars. I definitely wasn't in Houston, Texas anymore.

To my surprise, I saw my duffel near me and the small glow of the alien box. So it was a teleporter? That makes sense, but to where? Am I dead? I remember not being able to breath when I ... jumped into a wall? I started to slowly get up. How did-

"Ow!" I cried sharply. I looked down at my left knee. It looked like it had concaved in and the sides of my knee had swollen up. My elbows were skinned raw and I could feel the blood running down my forearms and to my fingertips. It would seem that I fell on my knee and bounced off and landed on my elbows. But where did I fall from? The only way for my knee to have concaved at all is if I had fallen from a tall height.

I looked at my swollen knee again and almost threw up. It looked horrible! I _felt_ horrible! If I kept my knee slightly bent, I wasn't able to feel my knee at all. It was like it was totally disconnected form my body.

I felt sick to my stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up on myself. The trip here must have taken it's toll on my stomach, or it was just the ugly view of the big pool of blood I was laying in.

I stumbled to my feet, wincing as sharp pains raced through my body from my left knee, elbows, and my churning stomach. Ignoring the fact that I was probably handicapped on my left leg, I picked up the softly humming metal box and threw it into my duffel and started limping towards the city. Where there's a large city, there's bound to be a hospital.

A hospital. I _need_ a hospital. The realization hit me. I am incapacitated in one leg, I can barely bend my arms, I don't have anywhere to go, and I don't even know WHERE I AM! I didn't even realize that tears had started rolling down my face. I started whimpering uncontrollably. What was I thinking? Leaving my only shelter? To do what? To go where? I didn't even make it to Stage Two of my escape! Why did I leave in the first place? I'm going to die. I can barely walk, I'm going to die. Either I die because of too much blood loss, or I starve to death because I can't find shelter. This wasn't thought through enough. I shouldn't have even planned this in the first place. I can't survive on my own! I couldn't stop crying. I can't even stop-

No! You _will_ stop crying. Push through this pain! If you could withstand all those beatings, injuries, and lashes your whole life, you _can _and _will _get through this! Don't worry about the future right now. Your first prioirity is to get healed at a hospital, then worry about shelter later. I wiped my eyes with a shaking hand and started hobbling towards the city.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard a slight rustle in the bush behind me and a quiet whisper. My heart racing, I shuffle as quietly as I could to crouch behind a metal trashcan. It wasn't the win, because there was no wind, so it had to be something else... or someone else... because squirrels don't whisper.

My knee started throbbing and I let out a small whimper. I decided, whoever it was int he bush already knows I am here, the trashcan is only here to buy me more time. I tore a thick strip from the bottom of my shirt and swiftly wrapped it around my knee, putting pressure on certain parts of it. Just a little trick my dad had taught me when I fell off my bike.

The air ticked my exposed stomach as I peered over the trashcan at the bush that concealed my pursuers. Maybe there wasn't... - No. There's definitely someone there. I just saw a small and quick reflection. Someone there has... what? A knife, a gun?

2415 About a dozen scenarios crossed my mind, but only one fit the job. Since I was badly injured, there was no way I could fight. I wouldn't be able to run to the city in time and hope that the publicity and crowd could help me. No, I would need a distraction, so I reached for my dad's handgun on my upper thigh, but remembered that it was unloaded. Shit, I didn't master the skill of loading it fast, so I wouldn't have it ready in time. I needed a different distraction to make my escape.

So I grabbed the first thing I had in front of me, and threw it as hard as I could at the bush. Perfect aim, Bethany. Perfect aim. Perfection.


	4. Meet the Team

**Okay! The moment you've all been waiting for! The Team is now being introduced this chapter! Just b the way, the * around sentences means that they are talking on the mind link!**

**Robin's POV - flashback**

(2030 pm) "Robin, pull up this mornings news. Channel 9," Batman demanded as he walked out of the zeta tube.

I stopped dodging Superboy's frustrated punches and laughed as I swiftly summersaulted to stand next to Batman. The team gathered around us on the training floor as I swept my hand over the air. A digital keyboard appeared out of thin air and I started typing rapidly.

It had been a quiet day at the cave. KF was in Central City with the Flash doing whatever speedsters do, Superboy was on cave-arrest. In other words, don't offend Black Canary, or you'll have to do a whole week of constant training with Black Canary and the team. Oh, and no missions. Aqualad, Superboy, and I had been sparring all afternoon, while Artemis and M'gann were cooling off from their morning training session, which also included sparring Superboy. They just sat and watched us spar with Superboy. Basically, Superboy got to have his butt kicked all day long. It was just a lazy, quiet sort of day.

I finished typing in the codes and pulled up the morning's news.

"This is Kat Grant from WGBS, reporting straight from outside of a recuperating Bel Reve. It was confirmed that last night, the super villainess, Queen Bee, managed to break another supervillian, named Psimon, out of Bel Reve. Officials said that it was a well coordinated attack led by Queen Bee and followed by a dozen well trained assassins. On their escape, Batman and Wonder Woman were able to subdue one of the assassins and take them to an unknown location. From there,-"

"Turn it off," Batman demanded. The screen immediately disappeared along with the keyboard. I walked over to stand with the rest of the team, who had automatically formed a semi-circle around Batman.

"As you heard, Wonder Woman and I were able to successfully subdue and capture one of the... unfortunate assassins. Somehow, the man was able to resist Wonder Woman's magic lasso. We think that they were using some sort of alien technology. I interrogated him on the nearby Metropolis bridge," Batman informed.

I smiled. Batman? A very high bridge? Interrogation? I laughed inwardly. Batman probably hung the guy over the bridge and threatened him. Upside down.

"There I was able to link the information the man gave me, to recent information that I already had," Batman continued. He swiped his hand across the air in front of him and a large map and picture appeared behind him.

(2034 pm) "After your mission in Bialya, many readings have shown up all over the world. Extreme power surges in a ripple effect in each location. Most occurring all over the Middle East," as he said this, blinking red dots started appearing in Bialya, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, and more.

"They're boom tubes!" Superboy said. HIs voice was a little shaky and his eyes were wide.

"Um, what's a boom tube?" M'gann asked innocently.

"Boom tubes are teleportation devices that instantly transport you anywhere," Batman rattled off.

"But why use them when you have ships?" M'gann inquired, tapping her chin.

"Why use ships when you have boom and zeta tubes?" Batman replied. I could tell he wanted to move on, but M'gann looked as lost as Artemis, but of course, Artemis hid it a lot better.

"What Batman means," I said before Batman could ignore M'gann and move on, "is that boom tubes and zeta tubes are much more efficient than ships. Ships require refueling and maintenance, whereas boom-tubes are a whole lot faster and you can go anywhere in the universe in a flash. While zeta tubes are more restricted, boom tubes allow a _mass _of people to enter anywhere in the universe."

"Oh, but why would all these boom tubes be opening up?" M'gann continued to ask.

(2036 pm) "The answer to that leads us back to the mission," Batman said. "The information that I acquired from the assassin is the following." A picture appeared behind Batman. "First, the boom tubes are being used to transport weapons. The identity of the supplier is still unknown. But one of the most important weapons just arrived. They were testing it out with one of their guinea pigs, Devastation," Batman motioned to the picture on the left. It was of an extremely muscular woman, almost manly. "The captured assassin revealed that there were rumors that Devastation never returned to the rendezvous point, but instead, their scanners picked up an _immense_ power wave in Gotham city. This meant that whatever weapon Devastation had used, had returned. Whether Devastation came back with it is still unknown. So keep an eye out for her."

"What exactly was this weapon, Batman?" Aqualad tentatively asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"A Motherbox," Batman said, narrowing his eyes. Superboy and I gasped. Artemis uncrossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. Aqualad whispered a small "what?"

"What's a Motherbox?" M'gann asked shyly, red coming to her green cheeks.

"M'gann, did you not do your homework on Alien Threats last month?" Artemis sighed.

I had already searched the League's database and pulled up the results.

"A Motherbox allows any person or persons to travel not only around the universe, but to different dimensions. Earth 1, Earth 2, X2," I rattled off different Earth dimensions that I had heard of. "Woah! Look at the stats on this thing!" I said pointing to all the bars that were filled more than 100% and blinking red. I heard the team gasp behind me and whispers being exchanged.

"Batman, in the wrong hands, not only could the universe be taken control of, but also the different dimensions!" I exclaimed.

"Which is why you will all be traveling to Gotham City at these coordinated to retrieve the Motherbox before Queen Bee, Psimon, and their assassins get there first. They should also be on their way right now."


	5. Way to Make a First Impression

**Robin's POV**

**Present:**** 2400 am**

The girl hadn't moved in 3 hours. We were all beginning to think that she had actually died, but my scanners said that her heart was still beating loud and clear. M'gann had gotten into camouflage mode and according to my heat scanners, she was sitting at the base of the tree behind me. Right above M'gann, Artemis was perched on the highest branch. She still had an arrow notched from 3 hours ago. Aqualad was crouched in the bush with me.

I looked back at the girl laying in the Gotham City Park Parking Lot. She looked like any ordinary girl. Her hair was long and dark brown. She wasn't too fat or too skinny and her face was at peace. The only thing out of the ordinary was the fact that she was passed out in the middle of a parking lot with a growing pool of blood beneath her. Her dislocated knee made me want to rush to her side and transport her to the Batcave.

As if sensing my urge, Aqualad put a knowing hand on my shoulder.

*You know you can't help her yet. For all we know, it could be a trap.* Aqualad said in my head using the mind link.

*I know,* I replied, hiding my impatience.

*But don't you think that they would've already made their move?... maybe... like, 3 hours ago?* Artemis grumbled. Her obvious sarcasm brought a smile to my face, and her ever present impatience almost made me laugh.

*Good point, Artemis, but there has to be a reason why Queen Bee hasn't made their move. We an't just rush into things.* Aqualad sighed.

*Or, they could not be here yet. They could be, you know, stuck in traffic or something.* Artemis grumbled.

*Artemis, you know that-* Aqualad began.

*Guys!* I exclaimed, *She's waking up!* I interrupted their childish quarrel.

The girl had shifted and her groans could be heard from here. She slowly sat up and I could see her eyes squinting to adjust to her surroundings. As she was slowly getting to her feet, I could just make out the glistening tears rolling down her face and the small sob that shook her body. And just as soon as they had started, they were gone. Wow. She's really in control of her feelings.

I was about to signal to the team to get read, when I felt my wrist vibrate a warning. A dimly lit screen popped up from my wrist. A yellow dot was moving rapidly towards us. Before I could say anything about it, a rustling in our bush startled me and I turned around to face a grinning Kid Flash. I saw him about to open his big mouth, so I slapped a gloved hand over his mouth and motioned him to be quiet. I looked back at Miss Martian to tell her to add KF to the mid link.

*Okay, he's added,* Miss Martian said. I removed my hand from KF's mouth and sighed. Close one.

"Okay, seriously, Robin?" KF whispered aloud. KF's eyes went wide and he slapped a hand over his mouth and I face palmed. I'm telling you. He has a big mouth.

*Sorry, guys! Sorry!* Kid Flash said to all of us.

*Seriously? Could you be just a little more obnoxious. Our cover hasn't been completely blown yet.* Artemis spit at KF.

*Hey! I was-* KF began to shoot back.

But I wasn't listening anymore. Aqualad and I were frantically looking back at the girl in the parking lot. She had definitely heard KF's big mouth and was scrutinizing the bush. I could almost feel her gaze on me, even though I knew that there was no way she could see us.

(2413 am) I pulled out two of my birdarangs, just in case. Aqualad nodded at me to get ready. I looked back at the girl, but she must have seen something in the bush, because she started hobbling behind the close by metal trashcan. I don't think that trashcan was gonna do her any good, I thought to myself. I wondered what she could be doing behind there. And where was-

*I see Devastation!* Artemis cried. *She's getting up from behind a tree a few feet away from the parking lot!* I trusted Artemis' judgement. After all, I put her up there so that she would have a view of the whole scene and could pick the bad guys off one by one, like a sniper. If a battle broke out, she would be our cover and our eyes.

*What do we do now?!* M'gann frantically asked.

I heard some rustling behind the trashcan where the girl was. She may be hidden from our view, but she wasn't hidden from Devastation, who was on the other side of the parking lot.

(2415 am) *Okay, Artemis, stay on top and keep us updated. If Psimon and Queen Bee are her, take action. * Aqualad commanded. *Kid Flash, try to get the girl to a hospital as soon as possible, M'gann get the box, Robin and I will take on-* Aqualad was cut off by the sound of a loud whizzing noise. Aqualad and I turned just in time to see a trashcan lid fly right in the bush like a frisbee, heading straight for KF. KF had just enough time to reach out his hands to catch it, although he ended up flying backwards a good 5 feet because of the momentum.

*You're... kidding me, right?* KF wheezed. Apparently, the lid had hit him square in the stomach. *We try to... save... her ass... and this... is my reward?* KF struggled to babble while crawling on his hands and knees.

*Well, she did give you a nice souvenir bruise,* Artemis offered with a sweet smile.

I looked back for the girl, but she had already been attempting an escape, her backpack slung on her shoulder.

Behind me, I heard Artemis groan and turned around just in time to see her fall out of her tree with a thud.

Before I could give chase to the limping girl, M'gann's frantic voice erupted in my mind.

*Psimon's here! I-* M'gann started, but didn't get to finish because she was thrown into Aqualad.

Knowing I was probably next and I was in a vulnerable position without my teammates standing ready next to me, I leapt out of the bush I was hiding in. I focused on the girl that was quickly limping out of the parking lot. By my calculations, Psimon was either about to mind blast me, or was preoccupied by one of my recovered teammates, most likely KF.

I highly doubted I would be able to get away so soon, considering Psimon had taken Artemis out, and then swiftly taken M'gann and Aqualad out in a matter of 7 seconds. I hoped that KF had recovered fast enough to take on Psimon while I got the girl and the Motherbox. But I didn't get to finish my calculations because far in front of me, an angry Devastation had barreled right into the limping girl, who crumpled to the pavement.

"No!" I yelled aloud, but I was too far away from her to help. Just then, 2 dark figures dropped on either side of me and began closing int. Assassins.

"Really? You guys are just in the way," I sighed. I just really needed to go help the girl, but these two were just in my way. "Okay, bring it on," I said unenthusiastically, intending to end this swiftly.


	6. It's a Woman, Not a man

Bethany Ford's POV

(24:16 am) I felt like I got run over by a speeding truck. After I had thrown that trashcan lid as hard as I could, I ran as fast as my injured leg could take me. That lid had been my ticket to freedom. First, I was staring straight at the brightly lit city thinking I was home free, and the next thing I knew, I'm face planting the ground. I fell like a sack of potatoes, my vision temporarily going dark. I could hear my father's voice in my ears saying, Get up! Now! I was sprawled on my back, and as I cracked my eyes open to see what had hit me, I saw a huge man about to pound me. I quickly rolled over into a sloppy kneel, the edges of my vision faded black. When my vision cleared, I was gazing right in to the rage-filled eyes of a muscular man... wait, woman? No, man... no, definitely a woman. you can always tell by the lips and the eyelashes. So a muscular woman. Focus, Bethany! My father's voice rang in my ears. The ground where I was laying just a few seconds ago was cracked from under the power that the man had - _muscular woman_ had used to try to pound me to the ground.

"Ping!" Something pinged loudly in my small backpack. I glanced back surprised. I was 100% positive that I didn't bring my phone. i could be tracked with it and I wasn't that dumb. I just assumed that it was that phone looking device that I had picked up. It was making beeping and pinging noises before.

"You have something of mine," the woman sneered at me. Her voice was gravelly and rough, just like her facial features. My heart started beating really fast. I had never been in a full on serious fight before. Only at school, i would protect myself. But this was crazy! I calmed myself quickly.

"Umm, that remote-control thing?" I asked confused. Lightening the mood always helped me not take it as seriously.

"That _remote-control thingy," _She spat those last few words out, "is mine, and if you don't give it back to me, I'm just going to _kill_ you to get it. Or maybe I should just kill you for the fun of it."

(24:16) "Umm, all you had to do was ask," I said lightly. I started slowly unzipping my backpack to buy me some time to think. This remote got me to this place. If I give it to her, my source of free transportation is gone. but if I keep it, I can go wherever I need to, and maybe the cops won't be able to find me for another couple weeks. With this device, I could live on my own even longer than I though I could last. But then again, if I don't give it to her, I'm going to get my ass handed to me. Probably chopped up. Lightly salted. Especially since I was injured, my fighting chance against this woman was less than 38%. I would rather not die right now. Reluctantly, I pulled out the remote looking device and was about to hand it to the woman's manly hands when an arrow zipped out of nowhere and exploded on the woman. She flew back about 10 feet from me, howling in pain.

"Don't give it to her!" A strong husky feminine voice yelled out form a patch of greenery to my left. I couldn't make out anything except some long blonde hair, but the angry woman's battle cries drew my attention back. I quickly shoved the beeping remote into my backpack again and looped the backpack around my shoulders. If there was someone else that wanted the remote, then it must be really important. What was this thing? If there was another person trying to get it too, then I can use that to my advantage to get away I could probably pit them against each other and then make my escape.

"Who's that?" I asked trying to direct the attention to the person who shot the arrow.

"An insect," the muscular woman said, "now give me the box!" Well that didn't work.

"Run!" The blonde girl's strong command could be heard clearly.

(24:18) I took a quick glance at the muscular woman in front of me and caught a glimpse of her don't-you-dare look. I threw a quick sweet smile at her before taking off as fast as my injured leg could take me. I guess the blonde girl was trying to protect me instead. But why? Well, if someone was going to cover for my escape, then I am going to gladly take it. I heard the sound of another arrow whizzing by, but I didn't hear the sound of it hitting its target. Instead, I heard the same feminine voice cry out in pain and then right after that, burly arms roughly wrapped around my stomach and lifted me into the air. I flailed around, my legs kicking out, but my arms pinned down by these huge, many arms. Before I could resort to yelling all the curse words I knew, I was flung to the ground, but I carefully landed on my right side to avoid any more pain on my left knee. Okay, this woman wasn't going down, and the blonde girl doesn't seem to be saving me anymore, so I guess I'll have to do this my way.

I yanked out one of my combat knives from my boot and got into a defensive fighting stance. It was the third fighting stance my dad had taught me and has still remained my most favorable one. By now, my leg was comfortably snug in the strip of cloth I had tied around it. in fact, I couldn't feel my knee at all. I shifted my feet around on the pavement, feeling the familiar position. And then I looked up to meet the angry woman's boiling eyes head on.

(24:20)

And then she lunged at me.


	7. Chapter 6 and a Half: Help!

So I've been writing this slow moving thing, and I've been wondering... HOW DO YOU GUYS LIKE THE STORY?! There have been over a hundred views on this thing and only one person has bothered to comment (thanks, kelli_ann8)! Please comment whether it's good or bad. If it's good, what's good about it? I'll do more of it! If it's bad, what can I do to fix it? I need some constructive crtiticism! So if there could be some feedback, that would be great, otherwise I feel like I'm writing this for one person... and that's awkward.

Okay, second announcement! I've updated the summary that pops up at the beginning of the story! It's on that page where you push "start reading." I think that you just have to look up "Bethany Ford" and then click on my story again and then the new awesome summary will pop up on the first page. So now you can kind of get a glimpse of WHAT IS TO COME IN THE STORY! *hint hint cough cough go look at the damn page and get your spoilers cough cough*

And lastly, sorry (insert people's names because I don't even know who is actually reading this because no one is commenting or liking except one person, kelli_ann8) for not updating for a while. There were mid-terms. You gotta do what ya gotta do. So now it's Winter Break and I'll be updating more frequently with better chapters. Btw, if you didn't already know. This story is going to be long because I like to put a lot of details and fluff and a lot of small plots to build up to the big one. SOOOOO... yeah.

K bye.

Go comment now.


	8. Deathly Dance

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been like 5 days since an actual chapter and sorry this one is short, but I'm cranking out another one really soon! Comment what you think of the book so far! It can be one word, too. Just comment!**

**_Robin's POV:_**

(24:17 am) Okay, so it was taking a little longer than I thought. They had decided to call for backup, so now I was fighting a total of 5 well-trained assassins at once. Not my _ideal_ fight, but the chances of me overcoming them was still high. I considered skirting around them and just running for the girl, but then I realized that they would probably follow and then I would have to protect the girl _and _fight off five assassins. No, staying here and defeating them before going to her was my only option. I was just getting into the rythmn of kick, flip, punch, dodge, kick, flip, punch, dodge, when I heard that the talking on the mind link resume. Guess M'gann was okay and had disabled Psimon.

*Robin, get the girl!* Aqualad commanded.

*A little busy, but I will,* I replied. While dodging a punch headed for my face.

*We need to help her now! She is going to give Devastation the box!*

*Okay, but I'm trying to -* I started.

*I got it!* Artemis interrupted.

I heard an arrow whiz over me and then a roar from up ahead where the girl was. I heard Artemis yelling something, but I was too anxious to finish this fight to listen. Just two more guys. They both came at me from opposite sides. I jumped at the last second and put my legs up and my hands down and crashed their heads into each other when they were right underneath me. Bouncing down and landing swiftly on my feet, I almost felt like taking a bow. First time I used that move since 8th grade.

(24:20) There was argument on the mind link, but I was too distracted with the sounds of shuffling and movement up ahead where the girl was. Before I could whip my head around and see what was going on, KF was picking me up and zooming me back to the bushes.

*What are you doing?!* I practically yelled at KF on the mind link after he had plopped me back down on the ground. We were back to being hidden in the shrubbery around us. The Team was settled around me on kneeling on the ground looking grim.

*Sorry, man. Aqualad's orders. Didn't you hear?* KF said solemnly to me like he didn't agree either. I didn't understand.

I turned to Aqualad, who was kneeling right beside me. *Aqualad, what -* I began.

*I told you. Everyone back to the bushes immediately. No one interfere with the girl and Devastation.* Aqualad looked at me.

*What do you mean 'interfere?' We need to save her! Devastation could kill her!* I tried to argue.

*Batman's orders,* Aqualad said simply. Before I could say "screw that" and jump out of the bush and save the girl, he added, *Look.*

(24:21 am) I followed his gesture and looked at what was going on with the girl and Devastation. The view stunned me into silence. The girl was swift and balanced, working around Devastation like Devastation was a slow statue. She was nimble, even with her injured leg. She had an advanced combat knife in her hand and was swinging it around in specific places at Devastation. When Devastation moved, the girl moved, too. The girl moved in just the right spot at just the right time, making it look like they were dancing around each other. It was like she knew exactly what Devastation was going to do right when Devastation was about to attempt to do it. It almost looked choreographed. I stared in amazement, along with the rest of the team.

*How... What... Who is she?* I mumbled on the mind link.

*I guess she didn't really need our help after all.* KF said, sounding awed.

*Batman asked us what was taking so long and hacked the street cameras to see what was happening. He must have seen the girl fighting while we were otherwise occupied and he ordered me to tell you to stand down and fall back and wait for his order,* Aqualad relayed.

*But why? We could end this with Devastation now!* I argued.

*I don't know...* Aqualad trailed off.

I focused back at the fight at hand. It wasn't until I looked more closely that I realized that the girl had slowed considerably. It was only when she had switched positions with Devastation to be facing us that I noticed the look of pain that had etched itself across her face. She wasn't going to last much longer.


	9. THIS is How to Make a First Impression

**Okay. So no one commented. I only spent a couple hours on this. Whatever.**

**_Bethany's POV_**

The woman lifted her back leg. She's going to turning kick me to the head in 1.5 seconds. I ducked to the right, avoiding her kick before she even executed it. I was standing up on the other side of her when her foot was just landing to the ground. Before she could even turn around to see where I was, I had already jabbed my big combat knife right above her left elbow. First step complete: left arm incapacitated. The angry woman howled in pain and turned on me. I saw her right arm begin to pull back. I had quickly switched the knife to my left hand and was one handed cartwheeling with my right hand to my right. I pivoted on my hand midair and landed on my right foot, balancing without touching my left foot down. I don't think that my knee could have withstood a cartwheel landing. The woman was just finishing her failed punch when I stabbed the muscle in the back of her right knee. She howled in pain again. Her knee buckled and she used her right hand to reach back and hold her knee. Using her exposed right arm to my advantage while I was still behind her, I stabbed just above her elbow and retreated a few steps to examine my work. Second and third step complete: subject's right knee and arm incapacitated.

I turned around, ready to flee, until I heard low chuckling behind me. I whipped my head around, surprised to find the muscular woman grinning evilly at me. And she was standing straight up, not rolling on the ground in pain like she was supposed to. I was precise in my stabs! Why wasn't she down?!

"You stupid, little girl!" She taunted at me. The words "stupid, little girl" reminded me of my mother. My brain froze at the memory. It seemed like a year ago I was being hit in the kitchen and being forced to do as my mother commanded. The woman spat a mix of blood and saliva onto the ground next to her. "You think that'll work on me? Stupid. I'm no ordinary human. I'm stronger than you. You may be able to get all these puny little stabs with your butter knife, but a couple hits from me, and you'll be out cold. Laying on the concrete like a dead animal."

I was silent. I didn't have any comebacks ready. I didn't know what to say to that. My brain was dead. How was she standing? That wan't humanly possible! I just stood there, gaping. I was frozen to the spot. I knew she was about to lunge at me when I saw her knees bend slightly and both her hands raise a little. But I failed to move. I could only just stand there and watch in horror as two burly hands made their way to my face. I managed to move back one step causing her grip to lower to my shoulders instead of my head. She gripped them so hard I was sure I would have more bruises around my shoulders. Next thing I knew, I was flying across the parking lot. I landed on my side and slid about 3 feet on the concrete on my shoulders, arms, and legs. I started seeing bursts of white, and black was creeping around my vision. I suddenly felt so tired. But I staggered to stand, my scrapes bleeding down my body. That time, I had landed on my left side, and it felt like my left knee had awaken from it's numb slumber and decided it wanted to throb and burn. My whole left side of my body was stinging every time I moved my left leg or arm. But I endured.

I didn't want it to happen again. When my vision cleared, the woman was already two feet away from me with her arm pulled back to punch me. I moved to the side sloppily and grabbed her fist and pushed her forward, keeping her motion and direction. The woman stumbled forward and almost fell. One of the first moves my father taught me. Use your opponents own motion against them. I staggered to stand upright. My stupid vision kept having those black dots dancing on the edge. I blinked hard. They were still there. The woman was just toying with me. With the strength and speed that she had, she could have killed me already. But she was just trying to make me suffer and break down my strength.

The woman was back at me. I saw her front foot pivot. What was left of my brain told me that she was about to turning kick to the left side of my head. I knew I should have ducked and rolled to the left. Too late.

I staggered to the right from the harsh impact. My jaw had moved. My face was burning and raw. My left ear was ringing from her kick. It was like all I could hear was my own rushing blood in my body. My ear had blocked out all outside sounds. I was facing the concrete. Get your act together! My father's voice yelled at me. I wanted to start crying. I was in too much pain. I just wanted to sleep. Endure! The command was clear in my head. You will not show any signs of weakness. Do not emit any sound.

I faced the woman again. Somehow, I still had my combat knife in my hand. This isn't sufficient enough. Plan B. I yanked my second combat knife out of it's place in my other boot. I put one foot behind the other and crouched like a tiger ready to pounce. One knife was upside down, the other was held normally. One was behind me, the other in front. Jar'Kai stance (yes, I got this from Star Wars. Look up Ahsoka's Jar'Kai stance. This is what Bethany's stance looks like). My second favorite. Except for the fact that my legs really hurt in the crouching stance. I took a deep breath and counted to three. On three, I ignored the pain shooting up my legs, arms, and head. I ignored the fact that I was close to tears from my throbbing knee. I haven't lost yet. And I won't.

**Okay, so I have another chapter coming out in right after this in a couple moments. How'd ya'all like it?!**


	10. What Took You So Long?

**_Robin's POV_**

*That's it! I'm going to help her!* I began to exit the stupid bush.

*No!* Aqualad grabbed my arm, pulling me down. *If you disobey Batman's orders...*

*What? He'll ground me? The girl's life is more important than a little punishment from the Bats!*

*Robin, Batman has a reason for making us sit out. He said he would tell us when to take action. If he hasn't yet, then he doesn't deem it the right time to help. Batman knows what he's doing.*

*But-* I tried.

*No! That is an order!* Aqualad said firmly, although I could hear the grimness in his voice over what he was saying. Fuming, I turned to watch the rest of the scene.

The girl was in Jar'Kai stance. Oh, God. This was about to get even bloodier than it already was. The girl's hair was tousled messily in the back. Strands of hair had come out of her straight ponytail. Her fitted black shirt was ripped like it was a cropped top. I spotted the missing strip of cloth tied around her injured knee in a complicated wrap. Her boots had blood stained on them, along with her leggings. Her muscles on her midriff were clearly visible. Her arms and legs were toned and muscular, but not enough to match Devastation. I examined the way her muscles would retract every time she struck out. When she moved to attack Devastation, she was poised and confident, although her face was twisted in pain. I tapped my finger impatiently, cringing everytime the girl failed against Devastation. Come on Bruce, let us go.

**_Bethany's POV_**

I was spinning, kicking, stabbing, jumping (much to my leg's dismay), and flipping through the air. I dodged the bitch's punches, avoided her attempts to grab me, and stabbed her legs when they tried to kick me. She had blood streaming out of her limbs, but she still moved with the same aggressiveness before I had stabbed her at all. Not fair, and definitely not human. Lucky for me, using the Jar'Kai fighting style allowed me to use two blades to support each other. I thought I was pretty good... well until the woman got a hit on me and I fell to the ground, blood splurting everywhere. She kicked me over and over again on the ground. Her kicks seemed stronger than they should have been. My vision tunnelled, but I forced myself to stay awake. Someone was screaming. I think that was me. My face was wet. I think it was a mixture between tears and blood. My stomach was in so much pain. I think I broke a rib or something. She stopped kicking me and started circling me like her prey, which I now admit. I am.

I start dragging myself away. I'm scrambling backwards, away from her. My hands meet the end of the parking lot. I steady myself on the curb.

"Stop.." I croaked out. I put one bleeding hand out like a shield. As if it would do anything.

"Now you see? I have now fulfilled my promise," She snarled. She took her time walking towards me. "I said you would be lying on the cold concrete. Now it's time to fulfill that last part of my promise. You will look like a dead animal." By now I had raised myself to a sitting position, using the parking lot curb. One last plan formed in my head.

Time to bait her. I spat as far and hard as I could. A mixture of spit and blood landed on her upper leg. I gave her the best smile I could muster, knowing I was probably smiling with a mouth full of blood. She looked down at her wet leg, shiny from my saliva, and gave me a death look.

"You bitch. You just can't help but want to die faster. I'll make sure to break every one of your bones before you die," she moved towards me, hands outstretched.

Just a little closer... Now! Using the last strength in my arms, I lifted my left knee off of the ground before snapping it back down to give my right leg momentum to fly through the air and kick her in the throat. I landed back on the ground with an ungraceful thud. I looked up to see the amount of damage I had done and felt my heart sink, seeing that the she was only gasping for breath. I think I crushed her windpipe. As is on cue, she recovered and grinned a crooked smile at me before continuing to advance. Or I could have just bruised it. Well, there was that. The woman picked up my dropped knives and poised both over me. She was about to bring them down, while I said a quick prayer that she wouldn't actually break all my bones, just kill me fast.

Just when I thought I was going to die in agony, a flash of black and gray barreled into the woman and she flew a couple feet back landing on her back. I looked up to see my savior. It was a boy in a black and gray suit with goggles on his head and a little bit of red hair peaking through his mask. He met my eyes and grinned.

"Well hello there, beautif-" He was interrupted by the woman knocking him aside. A blonde girl jumped in his place, releasing an arrow at the crazy woman, an explosion throwing her back to the ground.

"Stand down, Devastation!" said the same husky voice that saved me earlier. My head started spinning. I realized that I was safe now. Someone was here to help. The blonde girl helped me before, and now, so did her friend. I began to lean back, ready to fall asleep and let the girl and boy do the work instead. I was so tired and the world was starting to look hazy. But a pair of strong arm picked me up, bridal style. I moaned in pain as my body was curled up in someone's arms. I lifted my dizzy head up to see a masked face looking down at me. He looked to be my age and he had dark hair that fell around his face. It was a beautiful sight, after having to look at Devastation for so long. I unconsciously put my hand on his chest and I could feel the muscles underneath. I was too tired and hurting to be embarrassed at being carried like a little girl. Somehow, my head had found it's way to his chest and was leaning on it. I was so comfortable, I started to close my eyes, until I heard Devastation's voice again.

Devastation jumped back up, growling. "I will dissect all of you! You will regret-" She never got to finish her threat because a stream of water hit her square in the face. Another boy walked out from behind the boy that was carrying me. He was dark and had something wrapping around his arms. After Devastation finished sputtering water out, she jumped up, much higher than she should have been capable of, and was about to come down on the dark boy with stuff around his arms, when she was suddenly flung back. She broke a bunch of trees, before she was lifted in midair again and thrown onto the floor. The boy with the gray and black suit with red hair became a blur around Devastation. I blinked hard trying to wrap my head around what just happened. When I opened my eyes, Devastation was wrapped in some kind of thick black rope, unconscious. A girl with redish-brown hair appeared in front of me. She had a blue skirt with an X over her shirt. She leaned over me and was soon joined by the other teenagers. Suddenly, the only thing that I could see were five faces peering down at me with worried expressions.

"Are you okay?" A gentle voice asked. I felt the chest my head was leaning on rumble. I realized the masked black haired boy that was holding me was talking to me.

The pain and injuries had caught up to me, and so had the shock, the energy usage, and the blood loss. My eyes began to flutter close. I had so many questions and things to say, but the I managed to say something stupid, of course. "How come you guys knocked her out in 26 seconds, and I couldn't even get her to fall?" My voice was raspy as I managed to say one last thing before my vision tunneled to black

**Yay! So Bethany finally got to meet the team!**

**ANNOUNCEMENT!: I will be doing these character auditions later in the story. Show some devotion and I just might pick you! I'll tell you guys when I'm opening up the floor for character auditions! If you don't know what character auditions are, they're where you comment and describe a made up character that you want and then I choose a couple to be characters in the story. You can put a picture and then tell me the powers/abilities of the character, give a physical description, and give a character description. I'll choose a couple and make them characters in the story! But that's later, just get excited!**

**As usual: comment, like, follow. Give some feedback to let me know you're reading it! You can say anything!**


	11. Just a City Girl

**Hey devoted readers! So... notice how I'm not doing the military time thing on the side... Yeah, I got kind of caught up in the story and forgot to add the times. Sorry if some of you liked it, but it was becoming a hassle. If you liked it and want it back, just comment and I'll bring it back just for you!**

**XO**

**_Robin's POV_**

I zeta tubed to the mountain after school. I was the first to arrive at the Mountain because M'gann and Conner didn't get out until 3:30 and Artemis had to go do who knows what at her house. I was really tired, and I was about to go to the medical room to check on her, but unfortunately, there was a big bat in the big room. He was typing away on a digital computer on the circular fighting platform.

"Robin, come here," Batman demanded, without even turning around, "I can feel you glaring at me."

Of course he would be able to. No one else was in the cave except us, so I walked over to him and just stood there.

"She should have woken up by now," I said simply.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Batman finally turned to look at me, but didn't stop typing.

"I really don't feel like arguing again. I'm really too tired. We're going to go through the same thing, again. I disagree, you say you're right, I continue to disagree, you demand that I agree with you, I disagree again, you attempt to persuade me to agree with you by saying everything so calmly and you give me analysis and data to prove your point, I get tired of fighting so I agree. Then as I'm walking away, I call over my shoulder that I still disagree," I say exasperated. I take off my mask and look at Batman. He takes off his mask and looks down at me. I never realized how much more I had to grow. I was a lot shorter than him, but I always thought my intelligence and strength made up for it. Well, not when facing the almighty Bats.

"Dick, it's over. You may not agree with me, but we're all here. Safe and sound. You guys came out unscathed, and we got the girl," Batman says. Of course, he says it completely calmly, like he's talking about what breakfast he wants Alfred to make.

"But the girl didn't come out unscathed! Broken ribs, extreme blood loss, a disfigured knee, and scrapes and bruises everywhere! She could have died! She could have -... No. I'm not getting into this argument again," I began to walk away, heading to the medical lab, away from the big bad Bats.

Batman narrowed his eyes at him. Something in the way Dick was being so protective... He turned back to the screen to continue typing, "Dick, she was remarkable. And I got you guys to her just in time. I see great potential in her and I think it will work out with the Team," Batman said over his shoulder.

That stopped me in my tracks. "What?" I spun around.

"I stopped you guys from helping her because I saw her fighting. She was fighting in ways even Artemis can't compare. She lasted a long time taking Devastation head on!"

"So you thought it was okay to be like, 'Hey, maybe let's just recruit this random girl that I see fighting in the parking lot!' Yeah, great idea Bruce," I said, my voice dripping with as much sarcasm as I dared. You can fight with the Bats to a certain extent, but don't go too far, or you'll end up tied up to the top of the Batmobile while he goes for a joyride.

"Dick, stop ranting. Just listen," Of course, Batman is extremely calm while saying this. Completely monotone, "What was that girl doing in the middle of the night? She's from who-knows-where, but she got the Motherbox late at night. Her backpack. It's too small to be a school backpack, too big to just be a purse. Perfect size for running away," He says.

"Still-" I begin to say stubbornly. But Batman wasn't done yet.

"Her clothes. All black. What does that say, Dick. You tell me the analysis," Batman demanded softly.

I glared at him for a second before complying, "She was in all black, no reflective clothing. Her shoes were real combat boots, although not heavy, therefore used for easy mobility, but protection," I said. I started to speak with more confidence and realization, now that I was the one analyzing her. I started speaking faster and faster because all the facts and analysis were piling up, "When we tried to fix her leg, we had to take off the wrap that she had done with part of her shirt. It was a complicated medical restraint. When we were trying to help heal her, Martian Manhunter and I saw a bunch of long scars along her back and her legs. Those weren't from the fight, so they must have been from something looked in her bag for the Motherbox, and we saw unscented food, a wad of cash, small clothes, and a couple small weapons," I said all that really fast. Full realization of what that all meant dawned on me. She was running away. But from what?

"And the way that she was fighting?" Batman urged me quietly.

"There were a total of 5 different fighting styles that I saw her using. And the fact that she was able to even _continue_ fighting Devastation with a broken rib, disfigured knee, and blood loss is unexplainable and amazing..." I trailed off, "Batman, how did she know how to fight like that? Where did she get the weapons? How did she know how to medically tie her leg like that?... Who... Who _is_ she?"

Batman did the famous BatSquint and turned around to face the computer without answering. Of course Batman was able to make all that analysis about the girl from just glancing at the girl for two seconds on a hacked street camera. I glanced at what was on the screen for the first time. He was using the girl's DNA to find a match, but it was blinking red. "There is no match. There is no match for her DNA on this planet." He typed in a bunch of different sequences. It was only then that I noticed that he had the Motherbox plugged in to his computer on his arm.

"Batman, what are you doing with the Motherbox?" I said warily.

"I'm using it's data on different dimensions to make a connection with the girl's DNA," Batman said simply, like he was checking the weather. Suddenly, a picture showed up with the words "Match" written across it. Batman grabbed the picture and enlarged it, along with the information of the girl on the side.

"Her name is Bethany Norwood. It says that she is sixteen, she's from New York, and... look at her family," I said skimming over the information. While Batman was looking at her family's information, I was looking at the picture. She looked just like the girl laying unconscious in our medical room, except in the picture, she looked to be a little younger. The picture was probably a year old. I looked at the family information, "Her father died," I said simply.

"But they didn't find a body," We looked at each other knowing very well that that could mean that he was still alive, "He was in an explosion." I continued to look at her family's information while Batman started pulling up information about Bethany's Earth dimension. Bethany's former father was named Jackson Ford, her mother's name is Grace. With Jackson, Grace had Bethany as her first child. When her mother remarried when Jackson died, Bethany's new father was called Peter Norwood. Peter already had two kids. The boy was Cain Norwood and the girl was Ash Norwood. Bethany and her step siblings were all the same age. I pulled up pictures of Jackson Ford and Grace. They both had dark hair. Jackson was handsome and had wrinkles around his face like he was ready to laugh, but there was also this glint in his eye that made him seem adventurous and mysterious. Grace had small features. She had long brown hair, she was tan, and she was smiling. They looked truly happy together. Below them was this little girl with straight black hair. She was clutching her mother's leg. She had high pigtails on and she was smiling so brightly. You could see her missing tooth in the front. The picture made me smile and think of my own parents.

"It says here that Bethany's real dad, Jackson, was a secret ex-agent of the... wow that's a long name... the Highest Undercover Strategic Headquarters Agency," I said incredulously. I started trying to decipher what each word could mean about the agency, but Batman wasn't concentrating on the individual words.

"Hush. It's an acronym for H.U.S.H." Batman said.

"Oh. So, what's so hush hush about it? It can't be as advanced as our Justice League."

"What I want to know is what they are _keeping_ so hush hush from their citizens." Batman turned back to reading about the other Earth. "It says here, that her Earth is the exact same as ours, except for the fact that there is no such thing as superpower or superheroes. There is no Justice League."

I pulled up family pictures of Peter, Grace, and the three kids. Wow. Grace looked different. She now had really short hair and she was smiling, but it looked forced and her eyes looked dangerous and angry. Peter was pale and had blonde hair that was slicked back with gel. He had a smile on his face, too, but his eyes looked dangerous and the way he was smiling looked almost... cynical. Ash and Cain both had blonde hair and were fair in skin. Ash looked overconfident. She had a lot of makeup on, her hair was almost to her waist in long beach waves and she had her arm around Cain. Cain had tousled blonde hair and was slightly built. He just looked like a wannabe, to be honest. He has a smiling face and his eyes looked like they were looking for his next victim. Ash and Cain reminded me of the bullies at Gotham High. Then, slightly isolated from the rest of the family, was Bethany. She had her straight black hair down, which reached to the high part of her stomach, and her smile was grim. She smiled a tightlipped smile without showing any teeth. Her eyes looked sad and you could see some of her scars on her arms.

"Batman, do you think that her scars are from..." I started, not being able to finish.

"If they are, then that's abuse. And the fact that no one from the family did anything about it is neglect," Batman replied. He glanced at the pictures for a few seconds, scrutinizing them. Probably doing that whole one-picture-is-worth-a-million-words thing in like two seconds.

"Recognized 13. Black Canary." A robotic voice said on the overhead.

"How is the search for this mystery girl going?" Black Canary asked walking through the zeta tube.

"It is obvious that Bethany was running away when she was involved with the Motherbox. She had the means, her father's weapons and fighting abilities, she had the motive, her new family, and she had multiple opportunities. She is from the other Earth dimension. The motherbox transported her to our Earth dimension," Batman relayed to her.

"So she ran away from her family and ended up here? She has no family now?" Black Canary asked. She looked a little distant.

"Yes. Her fight with Devastation was more than enought to prove her skills. Whether or not she will accept us, is entirely up to her. She will choose whether or not she wants to be on the Team. If she doesn't wish to join our Team, then she will be put in the adoption system," Batman said solemnly.

"Doesn't sound like you're giving her much of a choice," Black Canary said softly.I began to walk away, back towards the medical room to check on Bethany. She would have a lot to wake up to. She would have questions, but I have some of my own that I need answers to.

**Ahhhh! Okay, took a long time to write this, so comment and like!**

**XO**


	12. Broken, Bloody, and Confused

**For my new followers, likers, and commenters! It's time for Robin and Bethany to finally meet! Try not to get overwhelmed... ;)**

**_Bethany's POV_**

I cracked my eyelids open and the first thing that I saw were the annoying fluorescent lights of a hospital. Ugh. I hate hospitals. I picked up my head and that's when the throbbing started. I noticed that my leg and arm was wrapped up in temporary casts and my head had a tight, thin bandage going around my temples. I tried to sit up and-

"Oh fuck!" I groaned. Wow. My abs hurt. I lifted my white cotton shirt (I don't even know how my clothes got changed) and I was welcomed with the sight of band-aids and white bandages covering my whole stomach. And then I remembered what happened. Who were those people? Why did they help me? What am I supposed to do? How did that boy in the black suit move so fast? How did the dark boy FREAKING MOVE WATER?! What was that remote control thingy? AND WHO FUCKING CHANGED MY CLOTHES?!

I pushed off of my back using my raw hands. Even my hands stung, but thankfully, there were scabs on them. Hmm. How did scabs form so quickly. I thought I was only out for a couple hours. I gently swung my legs over the bed and hopped off. Right when my body weight was off the bed, my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the floor, thankfully landing on the side of my butt. It was like my legs couldn't even hold my own weight. I had never felt this weak in my life.

I slid on my butt to where my backpack was resting on a chair in the corner of the room, but when I checked it, the remote was gone!

"Stupid!" I whispered to myself. Those people took it, I'm sure! I needed to get out of here. I grabbed my backpack and staggered to my feet. I shuffled to the door, clutching the wall like a drunk person. My feet were stumbling over each other and I tripped before I could lay a hand on the door handle. I desperately grabbed around at the air in front of me and I accidentally knocked over a glass vase with flowers in it. A loud crash rattled the room, water spilled everywhere, and flowers littered the ground.

I sat back on my butt and clutched the sides of my head. Sitting on the floor, I remembered Devastation's attack. I was broken, bloody, and close to death. I remembered, and I suddenly felt sick. The room started spinning and it was almost like the oxygen in the room wasn't enough. My stomach and ribs were hurting whenever I drew a breath and my heart was pounding too hard. My ears had this annoying ringing noise in them and the edges of my vision was black. The black parts of my vision had curling tendrils that seemed to be reaching out and trying to fill up my whole line of sight. I tried to stabilize myself with my hands on the floor, but the floor still felt like I was on a spinning platform that was constantly tilting back and forth. I was gasping for breath.

Suddenly the door swung open and the masked boy with dark hair stepped in. It was the same boy that had carried me in the parking lot. He seemed to look in shock at me for a split second before, all of a sudden, he was kneeling right in front of me.

"Bethany, calm down. You're safe," His voice was strong and reassuring. It was gentle and soothing, but still firm. I wanted so desperately to see what he looked like up close, but his face was slowly swimming out of focus. I started shaking my head quickly, which only worsened the headache.

"Bethany! Concentrate!" He gently put his hands on both sides of my face and turned my head, which forced me to look at him. I could smell a little bit of musky cologne on him. At any other time, I would have been embarrassed at how close I was with another boy, but right now, his smell was overpowering and I felt like I was suffocating. Don't get me wrong, he smelled good, but at the moment, it was overpowering, since my senses were on edge. I started waving my hands in front of me, trying to push him away. I tried to tell him to get away, but I only ended up mouthing the words because my throat was so dry and croaky. My eyes must have had this crazy animal look in my eyes because his eyebrows furrowed and he held me tighter.

"Bethany, concentrate on me. Just concentrate on me," He said softly. I concentrated on his hands. They were gloved, but I could feel his warmth through the gloves. His hands were warming my cold cheeks. He was kneeling in front of me, his face inches from mine, my hands resting on his chest. We were both kneeling on the floor next to the bed and his knees were pressing into mine. There were flowers and shards of sparkling glass sprawled around us. My heartbeat slowed down to a pace that was a little above normal. My head stopped spinning, the ringing diminished, and the black around the edges receded enough for me to examine the face in front of me.

The boy had a strong jaw, pursed lips, and furrowed eyebrows. His hair was raven black and was settled in place, framing his face. I could see the slight outline of his eyes behind his mask, but I couldn't see the color. Despite not being able to see his full face due to his mask, I could tell he was handsome. And I could also tell that he was strong and fit from my hands on his chest. Everything returned to normal.

I blinked. The boy in front of me smiled a little bit, seeing that I was recovered from my mini traumatic breakdown.

"There. See? Not so bad," He said softly, a smile playing on his lips. He gently helped me up by grasping my elbows, but he didn't let go when we stood, "My names Robin by the way."

I swallowed to get my throat to work. "How did you know my name?" I asked softly, my voice cracking at the end.

He smiled sheepishly, "I looked you up."

Still confused as to how that worked, I decided I had bigger troubles. I suddenly noticed how close we were. I could practically feel his body heat on me, and he was still holding my arms. I felt face getting flushed and the room felt a little hot. I quickly looked at the ground and took a steady step backwards. When I looked back up, I caught his face with a little tinge of red on the cheeks as he realized, too.

He let out a small, fake cough and then straightened up, "So you must have a lot of questions. I can answer -"

"Who are you?!" I managed to sputter out. I was so confused at what was happening and I was going to start crying with how much I didn't understand.

"I told you, my name is Robin and -"

"No! I meant who- ugh! What are you?! That guy moved water, and the other guy was just a blur, and the girl was floating, and the other girl was shooting arrows, and..." I realized that what I was rambling sounded retarded and stupid, "I'm going crazy! Am I dead? Is that why I'm imagining things?! But why does heaven hurt so much?" I said pointing to my ribs, "Or am I in Hell?"

"Bethany, just calm -"

"And why are you dressed like that?!" I hadn't realized that we were already walking down hallways and I was practically shrieking. Robin, as he called himself, was half carrying half dragging me down the hallway. We arrived at a large room with a glowing circular platform in the middle. There was a tall, broad man dressed in all black with a cape and mask and he was standing in the center,

"And where am I?!"

"Bethany, welcome," The man dressed in all black turned and I felt myself whimpering. I accidentally took a step back and wanted to cower in the corner. He was so scary.

"Who... Who a-are you?! W-what is this place, and w-why am I h-here?" I stuttered. It looked like the man in black was burning my soul.

"Kid Flash B03, Artemis B07, Aqualad B02, Miss Martian B05, Superboy B04," A robotic voice suddenly rang out. Five people dressed in weird costumes appeared in a flash of light. My confusion level just shot up about a thousand levels higher, if that was even possible.

"What the fuck?! SOMEONE ANSWER MY QUESTIONS! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Bethany, we have a lot to discuss," The man in black sternly told me, obviously disapproving of my choice of words.

**Hey guys, sorry it's moving so slowly! Comment, like, and stay traught! :)**


	13. The Choice

**WARNING!: GUYS I CHANGED THE ENDING TO CHAPTER 11: JUST A CITY GIRL. PLEASE REREAD IT BECAUSE IT IS DIFFERENT.**

**On the other hand: If you are too lazy to go read it (even though it's like two pieces of dialogue), then I'll just tell you what happened. So, the fact that Batman wanted to test Bethany would just take up too much time, so I took that part out. Instead, Batman says that Bethany fighting against Devastation is a test in and of itself, so Bethany will now have to choose whether or not she will stay on the Team or leave.**

** Also, I would like to thank Anime hotty lover.18 for commenting, favoriting, following me, and then following my story, and then doing a bunch of stuff that I didn't even know existed. Wow, talk about a devoted and kind reader! Thank you so much! It means a lot to hear from the readers, otherwise it feels like I'm just writing to a silent crowd. Also, if you could tell me how to respond to comments, that'd be great. Haha, I still don't know how to do a lot of stuff on this thing. **

**ALSO! I have a Wattpad account and I post the chapter to this story there too. My username is petvet2b25 and the story is also called Bethany Ford. Lame name, I know, I'll think of something later on... Sometimes I forget to post chapters to , so sometimes you can see a chapter there a little earlier than a chapter here. So yeah... Sorry guys, a lot of announcements.**

**Kay continue reading :)**

**Try to stay traught...**

**_Bethany's POV:_**

"So let me get this straight. There are superpowers and superheroes?!" I said, slightly excited. It had taken them about three hours to explain everything, including the fact that I was in a different dimension. At that part, they had to get me to calm down from a near heart attack for like 15 minutes and I almost fainted from mind overload. But that was a couple hours ago that they said that, so by now, I think I am over that fact. I think.

"Yeah, I'm cool, I know," the boy named Kid Flash said with a smirk.

"No, you're just the product of a freak accident, remember?" Artemis punched Kid Flash's shoulder.

"Well, actually -" He started to retort.

"Team, give Bethany and I some privacy. We have other things to discuss," Batman said firmly. Everyone obeyed, except for Robin, "That means you too, Robin."

Reluctantly, Robin walked out of the room to join the rest of the Team, but not after throwing one last glance at me over his shoulder. Now it was just Batman, the woman called Black Canary, and me. All alone.

"Now," Batman wheeled on me, "will you join us?"

Well that was straight forward. "Umm... I don't know."

"So straightforward Batman," Black Canary turned to me, "Sweetie, think about it. But we need an answer now because, well, you already know a lot and we need to know that you can handle more and that we can trust you to show you everything," Black Canary patted my shoulder and then went to stand with Batman. They both looked down at me, and then I felt like a little kid again.

"It's a big decision and I..." I trailed off in thought. Was it really that big of a decision? Where would I stay if I said no. I don't even know where I am, and according to Batman, I'm in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DIMENSION. That still makes me dizzy thinking about it. If I said yes, then I would have food, shelter, and maybe, just maybe, some friends. I could do what I love: fighting. I could fight and train alongside all these teenagers my age and go to school and have a new life. I could start over!

I looked up with my decision and realized that Batman and Black Canary were still looking at me for an answer. I looked straight into Batman's mask.

"I would like to stay."

I slowly walked towards where Batman said the kitchen was. What if the Team finds out about my weird upbringing. Will they reject me? Oh god, what if they found out that I was this really weird reject and loner at my old school and that my parents even rejected me. I don't think I could stand any more rejection. I've already been through enough.

Before I knew it, I entered a silent kitchen. The air was buzzing with nervousness, I could practically feel it tickling my skin. Right when I walked in, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I suddenly found this extremely interesting spot on my shoes. I would officially be meeting and joining the Team, and my heart was fluttering with butterflies.

"Bethany?" I felt someone's warm hand on my arm. I looked up and it was Robin. His face scrunched with concern.

I shyly looked up and said quietly, "Batman said I could stay."

Immediately, a smile broke out on Robin's face and the room was alive with noise. All of a sudden everyone was in front of me.

"All right! More hot girls!" Kid Flash bounced up and down and then winked at M'gann.

"Shut up, Kid Moron," Artemis smacked him upside the head. She looked at me and smiled, "It's about time we have some more girls around here."

"I agree, Artemis! Now we can have sleepovers and do each other's nails and go shopping together and do all the other things that Earth girls tend to do!" M'gann bubbled.

"Welcome to the Team," Aqualad stretched his hand out, and I gratefully took it, "I'm sure you'll feel right at home."

M'gann nudged Superboy who broke out of his daze and said, "Yeah, welcome," and gave me a small smile.

All of a sudden, a burning pungent smell struck my nose. I sniffed and broke away from the crowd.

"Umm, sorry to break the moment right now, but does anyone else smell, I don't know, fire?" I said, looking around frantically, until I spotted smoke coming out of the oven.

"Oh no! My cookies!" M'gann flew (literally!) over to the oven and telekinetically took them out. For a second I couldn't believe what I just saw. A floating pan of burnt cookies and a floating girl. I shook my head. How will I ever get used to this?

After everyone calmed down, they all went back to doing their casual activities. I watched M'gann cook for a little bit, while Kid Flash snagged pieces of the food when she wasn't looking. Sometimes, Kid Flash would even wink at me behind her back. Superboy sat on the couch just staring at a screen of static. Robin was on the couch with him typing something on his computer. And Artemis was on the floor, taking her bow apart and cleaning each part. Even Aqualad seemed pretty normal. He was doing something on his phone and occasionally scolding Kid Flash. Everyone just seemed so normal, and yet they were all dressed in these weird costumes and there was a girl cleaning a freaking deadly weapon! What has my life become? I left to go take a shower in one of the nearby rooms, but the thoughts only continued.

But regardless of these crazy things, I still admired them all. They all were so different. Artemis was sassy and teasing, Kid Flash was flirty and talkative, Superboy was quiet and brooding, Aqualad was obviously the more grown up of all of them, M'gann seemed so bubbly and sweet, and Robin... I don't know what to say about Robin. Something about him is just... I don't know, magnetic. Alluring. Usually I could read people and know all their dirty little secrets, but here, everything is so foreign and I don't know what to expect anymore. I can't read any of them. My sense are just all out of place.

I stepped out of the shower and put on a pair of clothes that Artemis lent me. It was a pair of blue skinny jeans and simple black cotton short sleeved shirt. Her clothes fit me perfectly. I am definitely borrowing this girl's clothes in the future. I returned to the kitchen, hair still wet and uncombed. Whatever, my hair usually falls into place when it dries.

"Bethany," Batman entered the kitchen, "You will be staying in the Cave until further plans." And then he left.

"Yay!" M'gann flew over to me and enveloped me in a tight hug, "You can get the room next to me! And we can go to the store to get you some clothes and stuff! Let's go!"

She basically dragged me over to the hanger and tossed me into this red ship.

"Woah! You guys have a ship?! Omygosh what the hell?!"

She was about to close the door when a voice rang out.

"M'gann! Don't you think you should go in something, I don't know, maybe a little more discrete?" Artemis yelled. Even yelling, the sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"Oh!" M'gann's green cheeks tinged red, "I didn't think of that. Well, I don't really know how to drive, so Artemis, you drive the car."

"Yeah, and Batman gave me some cash. So let's go blow it all!" She said wiggling her eyebrows at me and giving me her best sinister face.

**Comment, like, follow!**

**Stay traught, guys.**


	14. First Day at Gotham Academy

**It's great to know that I'm not writing to a mute audience! Believe it or not, it's great to get some feedback, even if it's just one word!**

**Okay, try to stay traught while reading this.**

**Bethany's POV**

A week later, I lay in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was 5 am Monday morning. I was still getting used to the idea of me being in a freaking different world. I guess I handled it well because I wasn't really attached to anything back in my old life. And being in a different world kind of made me happy. My old life was like hell, and this new life seemed so great. I lived in this awesome cave, I was part of a team, superheroes and superpowers exist, and I had many parental figures in the Justice League! Life was actually starting to turn out right!

I had had a nightmare about my father again. After that, I couldn't fall back asleep, so I had been staring at the ceiling fan for the past hour. Last week, M'gann and Artemis had basically dragged me to every department store in Happy Harbor. I had made sure to get my skinny jeans, t-shirts, and solid colored shirts. I got my black Nike running shoes and toiletries. After that, it was all them. They even got me the latest iPhone and a Tory Burch case. Apparently, Batman has a _crapload_ of money to dump on a girl he just met.

Today was supposed to be my first day of sophomore year at Gotham Academy. Two days ago, I got a scholarship from a person called Bruce Wayne. Some billionaire that apparently just gives scholarships to people he doesn't even know. I don't even know how that happened. I didn't even know that people knew of my existence here. I asked Batman about it, but he just said he took care of it. Whatever that means. I had another day full of shopping yesterday. Artemis, who said she also goes to Gotham Academy, came with me to get new tailored uniforms.

My bandages were gone, and I still had scrapes along my legs, but those were nothing compared to the huge bruises covering my back and front torso. Black Canary and Batman decided to give me a couple weeks of rest before going on any missions or training. Missions. That word seemed so foreign to me.

I looked at the clock, 5:30 am. Ugh, fine, I'll get up. I jumped out of bed and did 30 straight push ups and 40 straight squats. It still really hurt to do sit ups, so I skipped those. I really needed to get my strength back up, because I had basically been assigned to bed rest for a couple of days. I went to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower.

When I got out, I dried my hair and put on my new school uniform. Oh god, the skirt was a little shorter than what I was comfortable with. I pulled the skirt down as best I could, but it didn't really do anything.

I thought it would be best to leave my hair down. My hair was straight and reached all the way down to my lower back. I decided not to wear any makeup because I wanted to start fresh and look natural. This year had to be good. No one in this freaking world even knows me, and I don't have my parents to hold me back. It's about time for a fresh start.

"Hi, Bethany! I'm Bette Kane, your student laison. We can start the day off with a tour and miss your first two classes, or I could just take you to each class and tour on the way. Which would you prefer?" This bubbly girl came up to me. She had these beautiful loose blonde curls and fair skin. Gosh, even _her_ skirt was longer than mine. God, I feel like a slut. Unconsciously, I pulled down my skirt.

Before I could reply, a voice rang out across the courtyard.

"Bethany!"

I turned around to see Artemis running at me, her backpack bouncing around on her back. Relief washed over me at seeing a familiar face. It was weird seeing her in a skirt. Okay, so Artemis' skirt was even shorter than mine.

"Hi Artemis! It's good to see a familiar face," I smiled at her when she finally got to us. Without even returning my greeting, she turned on Bette.

"Thanks, Bette, but I can take her from here," Artemis shot Bette a plastic smile before grabbing my arm and dragging me away before Bette could respond.

We entered in through one of the doors to the main building. I was shocked at the architecture of this school. The school really was for rich people. The inside was very classy and had high ceilings made out of stone and everything looked slightly old fashioned. The wide hallway we were walking down was filled with big, clean lockers on either side and students milling around, chatting with friends, or studying in the corner. It was the second week of second semester. All the girls were dressed in the exact same navy skirts, white high socks, black dress shoes, white blouses, ties, and blazers. The boys also wore identical uniforms that just looked like suits. I thought my private school back at home was stuck up and rich, but this just looked 50 times richer.

"What was that about?" I asked. We had slowed to a normal pace and were both walking slowly down the hallway.

"Oh, she's just annoying. She doesn't stop talking in her little high pitched voice. In fact, you should be thanking me. I just saved you from a whole day of torture."

"Are we going to get in trouble?"

"What? Pfft! Please. I get in trouble everyday."

Okay, not comforting. Then a voice popped up behind us.

"Yeah, Artemis. You should really work on that." Both of us whirled around to face a boy my height, with electric blue eyes, and slicked back raven hair.

"Go away, Dick," Artemis rolled her eyes at the boy, but the smile on her face gave away her fake annoyance. She tried to pull me away.

"Artemis!" I stage whispered to her, "You just called that kid a dick! Seriously, you _really_ have to work on your people skills," I said, appalled, as we walked away.

"No, that's, like, actually his real name," She laughed.

"Oh," And then lowered my voice when I saw that Dick was heading our way again, "You're driving off all the cute boys before I can meet them!" We both snickered. We arrived at my and I opened it, shoving a bunch of books into my backpack. Artemis turned around to face Dick who had also come to my locker.

"Well, Artemis. You're in a better mood than usual," Dick said.

"Shut up," Artemis said. I finished piling things into my backpack, so I shut the locker and turned to join the conversation. I got to study Dick's features a little better. He was slightly broad, his face was angular, and his voice wasn't too deep, but it was masculine. He was slim and fit. You could definitely see the outline of muscles underneath the dress shirt and blazer he was wearing.

Dick looked directly into my eyes and said, "Hi, I'm Richard Grayson, but you can call me Dick," His eyes were making me a little dizzy. He smiled, but then quickly added while wiggling his eyebrows, "Or anything you want, really."

"Wow, your flirtation skills continue to amaze me," Artemis groaned.

Ignoring her, I replied, "Hi, I'm Bethany. Bethany…" I paused. I tripped over which last name to use for a second, "Ford," I finished. How could I have even considered using "Norwood."

"Well, Bethany. Can I see your schedule?"

I pulled it out for him, carefully studying his facial expression for any response, but his face remained carefully blank.

"Hmm, I have half of the same classes with you. We have Chemistry Honors, English Honors, Advanced Digital Imaging, and History Honors together." He smiled at me and returned my schedule back to me, "I'm impressed, you're new to the school, but you're in all honors. Nice!" His electric blue eyes were dazzling.

I nervously broke my eye contact with Dick and turned to Artemis and she had her mouth hanging open.

"W-wait! You're in all honors! AND you're elective is advanced?! Who… _What_ are you?!"

"I'll tell you what she is! She's smarter than you, Artemis!" Dick replied. He leaned against my closed locker and crossed his arms over his chest, smirking. Dang, that smirk was cute.

"Shut up!" Artemis smacked his arm really hard, the sound vibrating around us. I flinched because I knew that Artemis' slaps could sometimes leave bruises (take it from Wally), but Dick didn't even flinch. Huh, strange.

"RRRRINGGG"

"Well, there's the first bell, I'll take Bethany to her class, see ya, little Dick," Artemis let out a little snicker.

"Woah there!" Dick grabbed my arm gently, stopping Artemis, "_I'll_ take Bethany because we have the same first period. You can go run along like a good little girl to your little non-advanced classes," He made shooing motions to Artemis, his smile growing wider.

I could practically see the steam rising off of Artemis' head. I could sense another slap from Artemis coming on, so I quickly said, "No, it's okay, Artemis. Dick's right, but definitely find me at lunch." She spun around and marched to the furthest door down the hall, grumbling to herself along the way.

I smiled a sheepish smile at Dick and he grinned back. He let go of my arm and led me up marble stairs to the second floor towards Chemistry.

**Yay! Bethany has officially joined Gotham Academy with Dick and Artemis. Just fyi, if you didn't catch on. Bethany knows all the real names of the people on the Team, but not Robin's. That's because, obviously, Batman doesn't allow Dick to tell the Team. So Bethany doesn't know Dick is Robin, but Robin knows Bethany is… well… Bethany. Bethany knows Artemis is Artemis, obviously.**

**OKAY HELP! I need some ideas for Bethany's superhero name. No, she doesn't have any powers, she's just like Robin. Badass and beautiful. So… Any ideas? Comment your ideas! I need help!**


	15. Wrong Crowd

**GUYS! I'm going to be holding the fan character auditions soon, so be on the lookout for that! If you have any questions on what that is, just direct message or comment on the story! And sorry, could someone please tell me how to reply to a comment?**

**Haha, still kind of new to ...**

**Well, stay traught.**

**Bethany POV**

I tried to stay awake. I really did. But after after 2 periods and when Dick stopped tossing me notes, I went into drift mode. I have no idea why I would ever sign up for Digital Imaging. It's the most boring class our of the three I've already gone to. Dick is next to me, going ahead of the teacher. Did you know that Dick is a whiz at computers? No, whiz is a HUGE understatement. In the beginning of class, he hacked the principal's email and sent an email to our Digital Imaging teacher, Mrs. Leroy, that her car was towed. Let's just say that class didn't start until thirty minutes later.

Next will be lunch. I hope they have better food than my old school. Right now, I just hope I don't fall asle…

"Bethany!"

I awoke with a start. A face in front of me blurred into focus. Electric blue eyes stared at me making my heart beat faster.

"Aww, you look so cute when you sleep," Dick cooed at me.

I blushed and I looked around. I was still in the computer lab and the class was starting to leave the room to go to lunch. When I lightly rubbed my face, I felt imprints on my cheek.

Dick must have seen my confused look, because he smiled at me and said, "You fell asleep on your keyboard. You have keyboard imprints on your cheek."

"Oh, god. How embarrassing," I mumbled as I gathered my bag and walked out the door with Dick.

"I'll meet you in the cafeteria with Artemis. I just need to drop my bag off at my next class!" Dick rushed off down the hallway.

Okay, I turned around and immediately froze. Where the hell do I go? I decided I would just a group of boys that were walking in front of me. Ten minutes later, when it became clear that the group of people that I had decided to follow weren't even going to the cafeteria, I became utterly stressed and confused. Okay, now what? I sighed and decided I had to do this my own way. I leaned against a set of lockers and closed my eyes. I tried to use the echoey hallways to my advantage and listen to hear where the most laughter and chatter was. Where was the loudest room? I heard lots of talking echoing from around the corner. Perfect!

I turned the corner and ran right into someone, knocking us both back onto the floor.

"Oh, god! I'm so sorry!" I stuttered, looking up while rubbing my forehead. I had knocked into this slim, pale girl with long, straight, blonde hair and a lot of makeup on.

"Hey! Watch where you're-" She stopped scolding. Her harsh blue eyes settled on my face and sized me up before softening and then breaking out into a wide smile, "I'm sorry, where are my manners?" She helped me up and she brushed off her skirt.

Only then did I notice that there were two girls and three boys standing behind her, hands on their hips. Wow, talk about a passé.

"Hi, I'm Kelli Stonebridge! You must be Bethany Ford, the new girl!" She said cheerfully and stuck out her hand at me and I slowly took it. Great, I have been minimized to "new girl."

She pointed to the two girls behind her, one a dirty blonde and another a light brunette, "This is Shelby and Nicole."

They nodded at me, fake smiles plastered on their faces. Kelli, Shelby, and Nicole all had skirts that were even shorter than mine and all three of them had makeup packed on and really long, stick straight hair, like they straightened it everyday. All three had matching sparkly cheer jackets that glittered whenever they moved. They were all holding different Prada bags in their hands.

Then Kelli pointed to the three muscular and good-looking guys who were standing around them. They all had matching football letterman jackets on. "This is Kyle, my dreamy boyfriend," She batted her eyelashes at the blonde next to her who, in turn, gave her a kiss on the lips. Okay, ew. Right in front of me. "And this is Grant and Mike," she said pointing to these two bulky brunettes. All the boys had these huge Rolex watches on them. Geez, how many blondes and brunettes are there here? And how are these people buying such expensive things? They're in freaking high school!

The boys had these sloppy grins on their faces and were looking me up and down. I blushed and shifted from foot to foot, unconsciously pulling my skirt down. Usually, I would feel good about myself when I see guys checking me out, but now, I felt like it was a bad idea to egg them on. They didn't really look like the gentle type, just the type who want to… I don't know… like, sleep with everyone they meet.

I decided to get this over with, "Do you know where the cafeteria is?" I asked Kelli.

She had an amused look in her eyes as she replied, "It's down the hall and to the left," Then she paused, looking me up and down before adding, "We can take you there, if you want."

"I-I think I'm okay," I stuttered, the idea of someone just bringing me there was tempting.

"Nah, let's just take her there. She's cute," Grant said, looking at my legs again. I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. When he said I was cute, I didn't get the same feeling as when Wally would say that I'm cute. There was some kind of alarm in the back of my mind telling me to just ditch these guys and find the cafeteria myself, but I ignored it.

"Okay, come on," Kelli grabbed my wrist and I flinched, wanting to draw back from her cold hands. Her touch wasn't warm and comforting like Dick's had been.

When we neared the cafeteria, Kelli didn't let go of my hand. The two girls and three boys trailed behind Kelli and I, as we marched our way to the front of the cafeteria to get food. As we passed tables, I heard people whispering and out of the corner of my eye, I could see lots of people pointing at us. I could feel eyes staring at me from all over the cafeteria. Was there something wrong with my clothes? I looked down at my skirt and my blouse. Everything was fine. Were they looking at me and Kelli? Oh God, what did I get myself into? If Kelli and her passé were anything like the popular kids at my old school, then what did that make me? The tag along? The piece of crap that they had to bring to the cafeteria?

After Kelli had basically gotten my lunch for me and carried it over to a table in the center of the cafeteria, I noticed that the whole lunch room had gotten about 90% quieter. There were only whispers now. This is bad.

I picked at my food and was relieved to hear that the talking had slightly resumed around the cafeteria. Kelli and her passé were just chatting amongst themselves, when I could feel another set of eyes staring straight at me. I turned slightly and I accidentally locked eyes with Dick, who was sitting with Artemis across the cafeteria. Artemis stared at me too, arms crossed.

Dick's eyebrows were furrowed and he mouthed "Are you okay?" at me. I nodded and wanted to tell him to get me out of here, but I decided against it, thinking it was stupid. I reluctantly broke from his gaze and turned back to my food. When I looked at him again, both him and Artemis were glaring in my direction. I felt my stomach drop, like I had somehow ditched them and disappointed them, but then I realized that they weren't glaring at me, they were glaring at the chatty blonde next to me who was flipping her hair every ten seconds.

I turned to Kelli and asked, "Why are people staring?"

"Oh honey, it's because you're sitting with us! Haha, just kidding," But I sensed she wasn't really kidding. Then another question popped into my mind.

"Why did you guys do all this?"

"Do what?" She asked curiously. By now, the whole table had turned to listen to our conversation. I could feel Shelby, Nicole, Kyle, Grant, and Mike's eyes bearing into my skull.

"Why did you bring me to the cafeteria, get me food, freaking _carry_ it for me, and then sit with me to eat it? You guys only met me about ten minutes ago."

"Listen, Bethany," Kelli put her hand on my shoulder like she was talking to a little kid, "When I knocked into you in the hallway, I looked up to see this pretty girl. You reminded me of myself and my friends. You even look like us! You have long straight hair, and you wear your uniform like us," I had a feeling she was talking about my short skirt. Then she added, whispering, "And I can already tell that Grant and Mike are taking an interest in you," She raised her eyebrows them.

I glanced back at Grant and Mike and they both winked at me. I shrank back in my seat. I wasn't feeling very comfortable here. I used to be invisible at my old school, and now I had attention pointed at me in all directions. I even had jocks winking at me. I think I miss being invisible.

**Stay traught guys! The end of the week is almost here!**


	16. Red Roses and Red Hair

**WAIT DON'T READ YET! Just for fun, look closely at the title... What do you think will happen in this chapter, according to the title? _Who_ do you think will make their very nice appearance?! Comment what you think and then see if you got it right at the end of the chapter!**

**O****OOOOh this is gonna gonna get good... try to stay traught!**

**Bethany POV**

After lunch, I walked to History alone, since Kelli and her friends didn't have honors classes and I couldn't find Dick or Artemis anywhere. When I entered, someone gently took my arm and pulled me aside. He put me in a chair in the back and sat next to me.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dick asked me, his hand was still on my arm. His stunning eyes were staring deep into mine with concern.

"Um yeah…" I blushed at how he worried about me. He slowly released my arm and sat back.

"You looked pretty uncomfortable at lunch," He raised and eyebrow at me, his electric blue eyes examining my face.

"I… yeah. Not usually the kind of crowd I run with," I muttered, flipping open my textbook to the page number on the board.

"Where'd you go? You didn't show up until 15 minutes after I got there."

"I got lost," I said lamely and faced the front, cheeks getting hot.

Dick furrowed his eyebrows, "Oh, God! Sorry, I forgot to tell you where the cafeteria was!" He face palmed and muttered to himself, "Great job, Grayson. Already losing the new girl. Smooth."

"It's fine, really!" I quickly added and touched his shoulder. It wasn't his fault. He looked at me and then glanced at my hand on his shoulder. His cheeks had a slight blush. We both turned to face the front as the teacher walked to the front of the room.

Someone plopped down on the other side of me and I turned to find Artemis.

"Hey," She whispered, "How was lunch?" She quirked an eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes and waved her away. Why was everyone bugging me about it? I was just freaking sitting with a bunch of people.

"I thought you weren't in any honors classes. So why are you in our Honors History class?" I shot back at her, completely changing the subject.

"Ouch," She feigned a hurt expression, "You know, I'm not _that_ stupid. This is my only honors class."

I smirked at her and she huffed haughtily and reached across me to poke Dick.

"Oh hi, Arty!" Dick turned and grinned at her.

"Look what you're doing to Bethany! You're rubbing off onto her! Now she thinks I'm stupid, too, and looks down at me!" Artemis stage whispered, pretending to be angry. Dick looked at me in slight shock and then quickly grinned at me happily.

After Artemis got in trouble for passing notes (much to Dick's amusement, considering all three of us were passing notes and only she got caught), class went back to its usual drone. When the bell rang, I dashed off to my Advanced Art class all alone. Dick had drawn me a map of the school during History, because neither Artemis or Dick had art with me. I had to go all alone. Hopefully, I could relax in here. I was pretty good at art, and it always made me relax. When I entered, I was immediately hit with the scent of new pencils, paint, and paper, and my shoulders relaxed. I chose a seat near the back, next to the window.

"Okay, class. Please welcome Bethany Ford, our new student," Mrs. Gold, our art teacher announced. She had this soft and sweet voice that sounded like someone's cooing grandma. This was the fifth time that I had to introduce myself, "Now take out your pencils. We are going to do still life today, so everyone draw the pot of flowers that I have placed on everyone's desk."

Small talk filled the air while everyone worked. It was peaceful and comforting. When I was halfway through my piece, I looked over at the girl next to me. She was really small and had dark hair like me. Her artwork was almost done and it took my breath away. It was stunning and it looked almost exactly like the vase of flowers in front of her.

"Wow, that's amazing!" I said softly to her, not wanting to draw attention to us.

She turned to me and gave me a small smile, a slight blush on her cheeks, "Thank you, yours is nice, too," She said it so softly, I almost didn't catch it. She had big honey-almond colored eyes and had elfish features. The first word that came to mind was "cute."

"Thanks, I'm Bethany by the way," Then I realized how stupid that sounded and added, feeling awkward, "But you already knew that because the teacher said it."

She smiled looking slightly amused, "I'm Rose Lavina."

I felt obligated to ask, "Did you know that you're kind of small?" Sorry, pretty straightforward, but yeah, that's what I'm like sometimes.

Her laughed was soft and musical, and her eyes sparkled, "Yeah, I get that a lot. That's because I'm actually 13. I skipped two grades."

I blinked at her, probably with my mouth open, "What? How?"

She smiled sweetly and said, "Well, fourth and fifth grade were too easy for me, so I skipped them and went from third grade to sixth grade."

"Wow, that's amazing," And it truly was. Was that even possible? To skip two grades? Geez this girl is smart. I bet she will be smarter than Dick.

"So, why did you come to this school?" She asked softly.

"Well, I came here by a scholarship from Bruce Wayne. I don't even know what it was for," I said lamely.

"Oh, I came on a scholarship, too!"

"Really? For what?"

"Oh, well.. you know mathematics and science… and art," She said shyly. All I could do was gape at her.

"Dude, can you stop being so freaking smart?" I said shocked. She laughed.

We kept chatting and I realized that Rose was an extremely shy, sweet, and thoughtful girl. She always listened to me and she would give great feedback. She was a really quiet kid, but she was so sweet.

The teacher left to go to the bathroom and I was finally getting Rose to open up to me, until a guy with brown floppy hair came over to us.

"Can I, like, take, like, some of your pencils?" He had this extremely deep voice, like he was trying to make it really deep. Two girls behind him were giggling at him and he had this sloppy grin on his face.

"Haha, Brady stop it!" One of the girls said in a high pitched whiny voice, but then they started giggling again. The grin on Brady's voice grew even larger and more cynical. I looked at Rose and could tell that she didn't really want to give them to him, but she didn't say anything. She was probably too shy to say no.

"Okay, I'll take that as a yes," Brady dumped out her pencil box onto her desk, pencils scattering everywhere and falling onto the floor. He grabbed a handful of pencils and started to walk off. I looked at Rose in shock and she looked like she wanted to cry. Okay, what is with this school?

I stood up and grabbed Brady's sleeve, yanking him back. He stumbled back and turned to look at me with confusion.

"What the hell is your problem?" I demanded. I noticed that the room had gone completely silent and everyone was looking at the exchange between us, "She didn't say you could take them."

"She didn't say I couldn't," He replied, a mocking grin on his ugly face. The two girls giggled again and the room was alive with whispering. I thought about what my response would be for a second. Since this is a rich and prestigious school, I would assume everyone is loaded with money. Thinking back to Kelli and her passé with their Prada and Rolex merchandise, I was starting to believe that the more money that you had, the higher up the social ladder you were. It would probably be shameful to not be rich here.

"Why don't you just go and buy your own?" I spat my words at him. My voice was dripping with honey as I added, "Or are you too poor to buy something so simple as drawing pencils?"

A hush fell over the whispering room and I could see red crawling up Brady's neck, to his face, and all the way to his ears. His whole face was red with embarrassment by now. I know, it was an _extremely_ low blow and probably an extremely spoiled and prissy remark to make fun of someone being poor, but I couldn't think of anything else at the moment.

"Why don't you go over to Rose to apologize and give her pencils back?" I said sweetly through my teeth, but my grip on his arm tightened severely, my nails digging into his skin.

"Okay! Okay!" He rambled tugging his arm around. I let go of him and he staggered back to Rose, who had this shocked look on her face. He murmured a quick "sorry," before placing the pencils in the box and running to his seat. He tripped before he could sit down, and I noticed that his face was still beet red.

When the teacher re-entered the room, Rose whispered a quiet "thanks" to me and I just smiled back at her. I think I just made my third friend.

I exited the art room and someone lightly tapped my arm.

"Hey, Dick," I said casually, "Were you waiting outside for me?"

"Yeah," He said motioning to walk with him down the hallway. "Next class is gym and we have that together. I wanted you to meet someone."

Dick was speed walking down the extremely crowded hallway. He skillfully maneuvered his way around crowds and in between people, occasionally looking back at me to make sure I was there. Finally, he stopped in the middle of the hallway and waited for me to catch up to him.

"Here, this will be easier," He grabbed my hand and gently pulled me along, going slower this time. My heart was beating really fast thinking about out hands together.

I was disappointed when he released my hand when we arrived at the gym.

"Okay, you have to go change into your gym clothes in the girls' locker rooms. See you inside!" Then he was gone. Geeze, he always disappears like some sort of freak ninja.

I got into my school gym uniform, which consisted of navy running shorts and a white cotton shirt. I decided to throw my hair up into a high pony tail. I was nervous. Who did Dick want me to meet? Was it one of his friends?

I entered the chilly gym and spotted Dick and Artemis talking to this red haired girl that was about my height. I approached them warily. His friend was a… girl?

"Bethany, meet Barbara Gordon. Barbara meet Bethany Ford," Dick happily announced, making gestures between us.

"Hi," Barbara put her hand out to me and I shook it carefully. I studied her face quickly, trying to gather as much as I could without looking like I was awkwardly staring at her. She must be about the same height as me, 5''5. She is pretty fit and slightly muscular, but not as muscular as me, so that would make her around 115 pounds. Judging by her posture, the way she didn't shyly shake my hand, and the volume of her voice, she is a confident and sure person.

I moved to stand next to Artemis, and then noticed that Barbara had also been sizing me up at the same time. The sound of a whistle blowing loudly woke me up from my trance.

"Okay, my little muffins! Time to play some dodgeball!" Coach Powers yelled in our ears.

**Remember to comment, like, or follow to get the chapter right when I post it!**

**Stay traught, tomorrow's Friday! I'll be posting tomorrow!**


	17. True Family

******This chapter is short and sweet. I may post another chapter after school today! Try to stay whelmed for me.**

**Bethany's POV:**

At the cave, I was brooding in the shower. I had been put on the same dodgeball team as Dick, Artemis, and Barbara. Artemis and I were just on our own, dodging and throwing. I wasn't that good at aiming, but dodging I was great at. Artemis was great at throwing, but not too good at dodging. While we were struggling, I had looked over at Dick and Barbara, and it looked like they were a machine. Barbara stood in front of Dick and would deflect all the dodge balls for Dick. Dick was just hiding behind Barbara and would occasionally reach around her to throw a dodgeball. Strangely, Dick was like a machine and would expertly hit his targets every time.

The reason why I was brooding was the fact that Barbara and Dick kept messing with each other. Dick and Barbara would chat and laugh and nudge each other casually, while I was running around the gym trying to dodge all the balls being thrown at me.

Ugh! It wasn't fair! Barbara and Dick seemed like they knew each other like the back of their hands. I have never been in a relationship with any guy and I never really had any close friends. I used to have a whole group of friends, but then I realized how fake all of them were. They were social climbers and they would do anything to get to the top of the social ladder. I realized in ninth grade how fake and boring the world was. I had realized that humans were the most manipulative, selfish, and greedy beings. I had distanced myself from everyone. Guys never talked to me anymore, so I never got close to anyone. Especially since my family had seemed to shun me. It was like Ash and Cain had taken my place and I was just invisible to everyone. I had no one I could rely on. Not my "friends," not my siblings, and not even my own parents.

I got out of the shower and dried off. I put on some soft cotton sleep shorts and a tank top and sat at the head of my bed. I drew my knees up to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, and then rested my head on top of my knees. Thinking about my old life always made me so sad.

I think that my mom went crazy after Dad died and she had to marry Peter. She didn't used to be crazy and abusive. She didn't use to be like that! She used to be loving and care for me. But after Peter and his shithole kids came along, everything was ruined. Ash and Cain immediately took over the school I went to. They became so popular and their favorite sport was to humiliate me in public everyday. After two years of hell, I had had enough and I started planning my escape. I thought I would just run away and find refuge somewhere. I was always too afraid to tell the police. I didn't know any of our family, so if the police caught my parents, then I would be put into the adoption system. I would get beat up at home and then go to school the next day with bruises everywhere. No one noticed, or they just didn't care. No one cared about me. No one. I was in that world alone.

I hadn't realized that tears were streaming down my face and I was sobbing quietly. I never cried in front of my parents or step siblings. I never wanted to give them any satisfaction of seeing me broken. By now, my head was buried in my knees and my nose was getting stuffy. My face was wet with tears.

Watching Dick and Barbara had sparked all the memories again and made me realize that I would never be able to have that kind of relationship with others. I never even _experienced_ that kind of relationship with friends. Was Dick and Barbara _just_ friends? I shook that thought out of my head. It's not like it mattered if they did; I never had anything with Dick.

Someone knocked on my door, shaking myself out of my self pity.

"Bethany?" M'gann's voice came muffled through the door, "Can I come in?"

"U-umm, yeah sure, I just," I wiped my face really quickly and sat straight on the bed, "Umm yeah… just, like, yeah come in," I stuttered, heart pounding. Did she hear me crying?

"Robin, I think you should stay back. This is a girls' thing," I heard M'gann's muffled voice talking to Robin through the door.

"But you said something was wrong with Bethany and I need to know what's wrong," I heard Robin reply. Although muffled and a little further away than M'gann's voice, I could still hear him.

"Robin," M'gann said, serenity in her voice, "Just listen this once." I heard the sound of receding footsteps.

The door slid open and M'gann stepped in with a worried look etched onto her face.

"Are you okay?" M"gann asked softly. She came over and sat criss-cross at the foot of my bed.

"Yeah!" I said, forcing a smile, "Everything's fine! Why?" I asked maybe a little _too_ cheerfully.

"Well, I could feel intense waves of sadness rolling out of your room. They were so big and intense that it made me a little dizzy," M'gann said.

"Oh, sorry! Yeah, just… umm, stressed about school and all! It's weird coming to a new dimensions and then just going to school like nothing weird is going on!" I said, a forced cheerfulness in my voice. Hopefully she would get the hint that I didn't want to talk about it with her.

"Bethany, I know that's not it."

"What? How would you know?" I asked, kind of annoyed that she was still pushing the subject.

"Ummm, well sometimes I can't help it…" She scratched the back of her head, "But since your energy was so strong, my powers naturally kicked in and umm… I was able to read your thoughts," She must have seen the appalled look on my face because she quickly added, "But only for a little bit! I swear, quickly turned it off! I try not to intrude people's minds! It just happened and I couldn't help it."

I mentally face palmed. Of course, why didn't I remember. M'gann could read my mind. Damn it!

After a long stretch of silence I asked softly, "So… you heard all of that? Like, how much did you find out-I mean, hear?"

"Enough to know that you had a terrible past. Want to talk about it?"

There was a long pause. Did I? What did I have to hide anymore? She already heard my thoughts. The overwhelming need to just talk to someone took over. I burst open and told her everything. I told her all about my real dad, how he taught me everything. He was a lawyer and worked in this law office building. And then I told her about his death and how he died in an explosion when he was at the office. I told her about Peter Norwood, Ash, and Cain. I told her about hell in school. I told her everything all the way up to me running away. She listened carefully to everything, even though I talked for about an hour and a half. I even cried when I talked about how lonely I had been and how isolated I was. Then I confessed that I would never be able to have a normal relationship with other people because I never got to have that in the past. My life wasn't normal, and no one accepted that at school.

"Bethany, you're better than normal! You're amazing!" M'gann exclaimed, "And if anyone's not normal, it's me, Superboy, Aqualad, and Wally. Look at me! I'm green!" I laughed at that, "Bethany, understand that we're all here for you. Even Wally, as surprising as it may seem. We're your family now, and we will never desert you. You're one of us, and we never leave anyone behind. You can leave the past behind now. The Team and the whole Justice League are here for you. You have a huge family that will go to any length to protect you. You're one of us now."

I hugged her, "Wow, thanks, M'gann. You made me feel all better. I don't know where I would be if I hadn't stumbled into the Motherbox and found you guys."

After that, Artemis came into my room and we all laughed and chatted about school. M'gann told us about being a bumblebee cheerleader at her school with Connor. Artemis told us about how she got into trouble today for spitting gum into someone's hair. Then I told them about my _extremely_ eventful day. I told them about meeting Kelli and her clan, the drama in the lunchroom, then meeting Rose, and then the drama in the art room (which Artemis high fived me for telling off Brady). Then I told M'gann about meeting Barbara. Then I got to the part that was really bothering me for some reason.

"So, are Dick and Barbara, like, a thing?" I tentatively asked Artemis.

"No, I think they're just really close friends," Artemis said, scratching her chin. Suddenly her face lit up, "Why do you care?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"NO! I didn't mean anything by it, I was just genuinely curious! They just acted like they were really close!" I waved my hands in front of me.

"Well they are. They've known each other since they were kids," and then Artemis added casually, "I think they dated at one point," She eyed me carefully.

I must have had an annoyed look on my face because she laughed and said, "See, M'gann. I think Bethany has a little crush!" They both giggled. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.

"I'm just kidding, Bethany. I don't know if they really dated. I think that they're just really close friends," Artemis said laughing.

I must have looked a little _too_ relieved because then Artemis and M'gann started jumping on my bed and sang at the top of their lungs, "Bethany and Dick! Bethany and Dick!"

"URGG you guys are impossible!" I covered my ears, face going red.

Suddenly the door slid open.

"What do I hear about a guy named Dick?" Wally's teasing voice floated to us. Both of them casually walked in. Robin quirked an eyebrow at me, a smile playing on his lips.

"Bethany has a -" Artemis started. I slapped a hand over Artemis' mouth.

"NO! What Artemis is trying to say, is that I have a lot of makeup homework to do, so you guys need to leave," I quickly recovered. No one looked convinced, and M'gann was covering her mouth to keep from laughing. Eventually the boys left and I made Artemis and M'gann swear to not say anything to them.

We stayed up laughing and chatting in front of the TV in the kitchen. Wally, Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin all came and sat with us. We were all in our normal clothes, no costumes. Robin still wore his sunglasses, even though it was 8 o'clock at night. We all watched Frozen the Disney movie together and Wally would make stupid comments about Elsa being "icy hot attractive." M'gann and I would jump up on the couch and sing along to all the songs. Aqualad and Robin would smile and Artemis and Superboy would roll their eyes. Wally would just take pictures of us together saying "this was too good not to record."

When I went to bed that night, I felt like a dozen bricks had lifted off of my chest. I felt truly happy for the first time in a long time. I went to sleep at peace, without any nightmares, for the first time. I had found my family.

**Love you, guys! Stay traught for me.**


	18. Average Day of Drama

**Bethany POV**

The next day, I almost slept in. If it hadn't been for Artemis that came and pounded on the door at 7:00 am yelling, "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!" then I wouldn't have woken up at all. I slept for about 20 minutes more until I actually got up. I hadn't gone to bed until really late last night, but luckily, I had done all of my homework before my shower yesterday. I looked in the mirror that morning and I had slight dark circles underneath my eyes and my hair was really flat. I was way too lazy to worry about makeup, so I just washed my face and then did a sloppy french braid.

My wounds were already healing at an unnatural speed, thanks to Zatara and Martian Manhunter. They healed my body a little bit everyday. After a whole week of magical healing, my body was fully healed. There were only some scabs and bruises on my upper body. No more cracked ribs, dislocated knee, and God knows what else.

When I got to the kitchen, M'gann was already cooking up some eggs and toast. She had organized them all onto styrofoam plates on the counter with a to-go cup of orange juice.

"Hi, Bethany! How was your sleep?" She asked me brightly. Ugh! She's too cheerful in the morning. WHY?!

I mumbled something unidentifiable in response.

"Just take a plate and a cup and you can go. It's already 7:30, doesn't your school start at 7:45?" I nodded.

"Artemis already left. She said something about going to a morning detention," M'gann tapped her chin.

"Aren't you going to be late for school?"

"No, Connor and I get to school around 8: 20. Our school starts at 8:30."

"Not fair," I grumbled,.

"Don't forget training with Black Canary today after school!"

"Yeah, yeah," I murmured. I acted nonchalant about training, but in reality, I was extremely nervous. I would definitely not be able to keep up with the Team after having done no physical activity for about a week and three days. Yeah, according to Robin, I had been unconscious for three days after my fight with Devastation. I took a swig of orange juice before walking off to the zeta tubes. One of the great parts about living in the cave is that you can zeta to a destination close to Gotham Academy, and then just walk there. It takes about 1 minute for me to get to school. If M'gann was always going to cook breakfast for me, then I would just sleep in every day.

I took a bite out of my egg and almost gagged. There was so much salt on it, it tasted like I took a gulp of seawater. Oh, God. Scratch that previous thought about M'gann always cooking breakfast. I quickly threw it away and downed the orange juice instead.

Looking around the courtyard, I didn't spot anyone that I knew. So I sat on the ledge of the fountain and took out my phone. Guess I'll be sitting here for ten minutes. I was just in the process of writing a text to Artemis to see if she would get in trouble for having her phone in detention, when a shadow appeared on the pavement in front of me.

"Well, look who it is," An annoyingly deep voice growled at me. I looked up to see, none other than Brady himself, "It's the brat that humiliated me in front of the whole art class." Behind him, he had about five skinny guys with floppy hair were snickering behind him.

"Oh, hi Brayden! I hope you bought some art pencils for today. It would be a shame if you forgot them a second day in a row," I said, examining my nails and acting bored. My father said to always act cool under pressure. But… I couldn't resist it, and I purposely decided to piss him off. What the hell did he think he could do?

"It's Brady," He said through gritted teeth, "And you're going to totally regret what you did yesterday!" He lunged at me, but at the last second, one of his friends held him back.

"Dude, don't you think, like, that's a bad idea? I mean, she's, like, with Kelli and Kyle," The guy said with an extremely deep voice. Did these people _try_ to make their voice that deep? It didn't sound attractive at all; It just sounded like they did drugs their whole life. Well, on second thought, they probably did.

"I don't care, Rocky! She humiliated me in class. Everyone has been talking about it, and now the whole fucking school knows!" Brady snarled, "Now, it's _my_ turn to humiliate her!"

I glanced back at the fountain I was sitting in front of and got this uneasy feeling of insecurity. I didn't feel safe and I felt vulnerable sitting in front of a fountain. I stood up and brushed off my short skirt, slinging my bag over one shoulder.

"Well, Bradley, if you don't mind. I have a class to get going to," I said casually, walking away towards the building.

"IT'S BRADY! And you can't get away that easily!" I heard heavy footsteps heading after me. Oh, God. Was he seriously trying to run at me?

When I heard his footsteps come really close, I casually sidestepped at the last second and stuck my foot out. Brady face planted on the concrete in front of me. The whole courtyard was filled with students and they all were watching. Small laughs were exchanged at the sight of Brady basically eating some nice concrete. He quickly jumped up, face red with anger and embarrassment. I looked around for help or a last resort. I didn't want to expose my fighting skills. To my left, I saw Dick coming out of the building. I locked eyes with Dick, and then he saw Brady getting ready to attack me. Recognition settled in and he immediately started to run over.

"You stupid bit-" Brady started to lunge at me.

"Go fuck yourself," A smooth voice said, stepping in front of me. A sweep of blonde hair obscured my view of a red faced Brady. At first, I thought it was Artemis, coming to save the day so that I wouldn't have to use my martial arts on Brady. But then I recognized the overly-straightened long blonde hair, the extremely short skirt, and a new Chanel backpack.

"W-what? W-why are you sticking up for h-her?" Brady stuttered. His face was so red right now, and he was wearing the hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar expression. Grant and Mike were towering over him on either side.

"Because. She's one of us now. Now go run along and play with yourself," She made shooing motions to him. Okay that comment was just gross. Geez, no one here had any filters.

Well, it worked. Because he quickly stumbled to his feet and then dashed away, but not before shooting me a furious look.

"Bye, Katie!" I shouted to him and waved. I laughed inwardly at my usage of a girl's name this time. I was actually starting to feel bad for the guy. I wasn't usually a bully, but this guy made me want to kill him. And trust me, I was definitely capable of it.

I looked over to the left at where Dick was and saw that he had frozen about halfway to me. He was clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, like he was unsure of whether to approach me or not. He was glancing between me and Kelli's gang. He locked eyes with me and I nodded, telling him that I was okay and he didn't have to come over. I turned back to Kelli who turned back to me at the same time.

She smiled brightly at me and said, "Are you okay?" Then without giving me a chance to answer she continued, "Don't worry about that pathetic loser. What you _do_ need to worry about is officially becoming like me, Shelby, and Nicole!"

I looked over at Grant and Mike who were standing really close to me on my right. They kept looking at me chest and then down to my legs and then back up to my hair. Grant reached out a hand towards my hair, and I automatically took a step to the left, away from them. What the hell? I kept a straight face and kept staring at Kelli in front of me. But Kelli must have noticed it, because she slapped down Mike's hand before it could also reach my braid.

"Stop it, guys! Obviously Bethany isn't in the mood for that right now," Kelli said, although she was smiling at them. They gave a goofy smile back at her. I wasn't in the mood for what? What was she implying?!

Kelli continued, "So, as I was saying. You need to start, like, fitting in with us a little more. Like, you have the hair and all, but we need to accessorize you by adding some makeup and…" I zoned her out.

I stole a glance at Dick, and he just looked pissed off. His jaw was clenched, his eyebrows were drawn, and his fists were curled beside him and he was glaring at Grant and Mike. I turned back to Kelli, nervously.

"Like, we definitely need to go shopping! Oh my gosh! Let's go shopping after school today! We can buy you some makeup and some really cute bags to wear with our school uniforms!" She had a big smile on her face and she looked really excited. But something was a little off about the invitation. I couldn't place it. I just saw a little glint of something in her eyes when she said the idea.

I took a slight step back, scrambling for an excuse not to go. My instincts had picked up on something and I didn't feel comfortable about it. I heard my father's voice in my head again saying, "Listen to your instincts. If you're going to lie, have a little truth to it. It makes it easier."

I looked directly into Kelli's eyes and forced my voice to be even, "My sister and I are working out at the gym after school today. Sorry," I said without any remorse. Technically, it wasn't really a lie. M'gann said that we had training after school.

Something flashed in Kelli's eyes. Anger? But it was replaced by a plastic bubbliness before I could process it.

"That's fine! Tomorrow then!" Then she sashayed away, with Mike and Grant following her, winking at me as they passed me. I looked over at Dick, who purposely walked in between Mike and Grant. He harshly bumped Mike and Grant's shoulders, causing them to glare at Dick as they kept walking behind Kelli.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dick asked, his blue eyes blazing with concern.

"Yeah. That's kind of become our greeting hasn't it?" I mumbled.

He let out a gentle laugh. The bell rang and he said, "Come on, let's get to Chemistry." He grabbed my hand, leading me through the building and expertly weaving us around the crowded hallways. He would occasionally grin back at me, oblivious to the butterflies that were flying around in my stomach.

I sat by Rose again in art and Algebra II. She was taking Algebra II and she was 13. It was so weird. She would always know the answer, but she would never say it unless no one else knew the answer. I asked her about it and she just said she didn't want to be known as the know-it-all in class if she answered the questions all the time. At lunch, I sat with Dick, Artemis, and Barbara. It took a little coaxing to get Rose to sit with us, too. I introduced them, but Rose seemed like she was in LaLa Land at the table.

"So, how was math?" Dick asked me casually.

"Boring. The teacher goes so slow," I replied in between bites of my sandwich.

"Do you _like_ math?" Dick asked. He sounded serious now.

"I guess. It's one of my strongest subjects. And I like solving the problems."

Dick's eyes lit up, "You should join the mathletes team!"

I stared at him incredulously, "What? Mathletes? Really? Please don't tell me you're on the team."

Artemis immediately answered for him, "Yup. He's the star mathlete on the team. He's actually the captain."

"Rose, Dick. Have you met? Dick, I bet Rose will be even smarter than you when she gets to our age," I teased.

"I don't doubt it," Dick said, smiling at Rose. She blushed and hid her face meekly, "Well, if you don't want to become a mathlete, you can join our gymnastics team. There's a tryout next week," He offered.

"I don't think I can," I said slowly, "I have a lot of… after school activities." I made eye contact with Artemis.

"Actually, I think it would be great for you to join the gymnastics team. I'm on it, too," Artemis told me. Then she whispered when no one was looking, "And it may help with those 'after school activities.'" She had a point. It could definitely up my fighting game, give me more strength, flexibility, and just improve my overall performance in fights.

Then Dick chatted and laughed with Barbara, and Rose read her book on the side. I stared at Barbara intently, trying to figure out what she had that I didn't have and trying not to be jealous over the easy going relationship that they had.

Artemis must have caught me looking because she leaned over and whispered, "Getting jealous, are we?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"What? No!" I could feel the blush creep up my cheeks, "It's not like we had anything anywase."

"I saw you glaring. You know, it took me a while to get used to her, too. When I moved to Gotham Academy, Dick was my only friend here. And then I met Barbara and it felt like they always fit together perfectly and I was the third wheel," She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. That last comment about them fitting together perfectly made my stomach drop. I slouched in my chair and wallowed in my own self pity.

"But they've known each other since they were kids, so the fact that they get along so well is understandable. They were probably just childhood sweethearts. Nothing more."

"Oh, really? The sweethearts thing is not making me feel better at all," I said glumly.

She ignored me and continued, "You know what? Dick used to look at Barbara with the looks he gives you now," Artemis added. That broke me out of my daze.

"What? What looks?" I asked quietly, glancing over at Dick to make sure he wasn't listening. Dick and Barbara were laughing about some stupid inside joke that they had. UGH.

"Come on, how do you not notice the looks he gives you?" Artemis whispered back seriously.

"What looks?!"

"_The _looks_."_

_"_Answer the damn question, Artemis!" I demanded, punching her arm.

"Okay, okay! Geez," Artemis rubbed her arm. Then she dropped her voice even lower. She said seriously, "He gives those intense, dreamy looks. They look really longing like a… like a…" She scratched her chin and looked at the ceiling, trying to think. Then she snapped her fingers, "Oh! A longing look, like a dog!"

My stomach fell.

"Seriously, Artemis? Did you just make that whole thing up? Were you playing me just now?" I asked impatiently. I was getting a little irritated at this game.

"Well, I was kidding about the dog part. But he really does give you those intense and dreamy looks."

"I think it's just the eyes. They're so bright that they make it seem really intense. I don't think he looks at me that way."

"Stop making excuses, just accept the truth."

"I don't believe it. That's not enough evidence to prove that he is interested in me."

"Damn, you scientific thinkers! Can't you just believe it without the facts?" She said loudly, throwing her hands up, exasperated.

"RRRIIIIIINNNGGGG"

The bell rang and everyone started pouring out of the cafeteria, Dick and Barbara still laughing with each other. God, it made me so angry.


	19. Party Invitation

**Happy Saturday, guys! So I'm going on Winter Trips for my school this week, so I won't be able to post anything this whole week! But I'll make it up to you! I'll try to post a little more. This is the last chapter that I have on hand right now. So I'm going to need you guys to be patient from now on!**

**Bethany POV**

Training today was horrible. I skipped doing the warm up with the Team and hopped right into learning a fighting technique with Black Canary. It was about street combat: Aka, fighting dirty. She said that we should always fight with honor, but when you get desperate, we needed to know how to fight without mercy and to cheat. I noticed that Batman was there as well, but he was just typing away at a computer built into his wrist. He basically just blended in with the shadows in the corner. Later, Black Canary paired us together to spar. Aqualad fighting M'gann, Superboy fighting Kid Flash, me versus Artemis, and Robin sat out. I ended up pulling a muscle and getting scolded by Black Canary for not stretching beforehand and skipping the warm up. Robin had to take my place against Artemis. By the end of training, everyone was groaning about the homework that they all had to go do.

"Okay, guys. Go hit the showers, you're free now," Black Canary said. Batman approached me as everyone left.

"Hold on, I need to talk to you," He said without emotion. Eventually, even Black Canary left and it was just Batman and I in the middle of the glowing training circle.

"Now," Batman wheeled on me, "Tell me about your father." Can you stop being straight forward? It's annoying.

I took a surprised step back. No one every approached me about my father. The Team knew about my family problems (Robin somehow figured it out himself, Superboy overheard me talking to Artemis and M'gann that night, and I told Wally and Aqualad during a Team building exercise). They all knew how I got choked up talking about it, and they never pressed it. They especially knew how much of a touchy subject my real dad was.

"I really don't think that... umm... I don't like talking about him," I said looking at the floor.

"I don't think that you understand. Information about your father is extremely important."

"I'm sorry, but you have no right to be demanding information about my private life!" I yelled.

"Bethany," Batman said calmly, "I know a lot about your father. And... it may be that he is still alive."

That struck home. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I was confused all over again, and questions started piling up. But there was one that stood out.

"How do you know things about my father?" I demanded.

"This device that you brought," Batman said, holding up the remote-control thingy, "is a Motherbox. It has data from the universe. It has information for anything. I found information on your father from this Motherbox."

"Why do you want to know things about my dad?"

"Bethany, did you know that your father was part of a secret organization of the government?" Great, answer a question with another question.

I couldn't speak. My dad? What?

"Guessing from your expression, you probably didn't," Batman sighed, "Let me show you something," He turned back to start typing again, but I swiftly placed a hand on his forearm, stopping him from doing anything else.

"No! Stop!" I cried out, "I don't want you to show me anything!"

He stared at me.

"I don't want to be given false hope for something that I've finally gotten past! It took me years to get over my father's death. Don't you understand?! I've finally _healed_ from that, and now you want to rip the wound back open and start prodding around?!" I shouted at him angrily. I was confused, angry, and upset, "I don't want to know anything more about my dad. I don't want to prod through his information and figure out the past! I've finally gotten through Hell. I don't want to be sucked back into it!" I stormed off to my room. How dare he intrude in my personal life? How dare he bring up such a subject and expect me to tell him anything he wants to know? How dare he?

**Robin's POV**

I was sitting in the living room with the rest of the Team, headphones in and listening to a very interesting conversation. When I heard Batman ask Bethany to stay back, I left one of my listening devices stuck to the wall. After I heard Bethany stomp away, there was a 10 second pause. And then there was loud muffling noises on my listening device. And then complete and utter silence.

The door slid open and Batman appeared, "Robin, come with me." Reluctantly, I got up and followed him all the way to a conference room that had sound proof walls and took a seat across from Batman

He pulled out my hearing device and sighed, "Robin, really? Can you not do that? Obviously, when I want to talk to someone _alone_, it's because I don't want anyone listening."

"Well, obviously, if someone wants to talk alone to someone, it could be really important information," I crossed my arms, "Also, you have no right to be prodding her past like that! Of all the people to understand, Bruce! In fact, she's like us. We didn't really have a family either," I danced around saying that neither of us had parents. That could probably tick him off if I said that.

"Robin, there's something off about the H.U.S.H. organization. Don't you find it weird that their world is the _exact_ _same_ as our world, just without superheroes or superpowers? Her father was involved in it, so he was my first step to tracking them down," Batman sighed. I thought about it, and eventually agreed. Ugh, I hate it when he's right.

"How are you going to continue the investigation?"

"She just needs time."

"But you heard her, Batman! She won't cooperate!"

"No she won't _right now._ But she'll come around, I'm depending on it. The only reason she won't listen is because she used to look up to her father. He was her role model. To have secrets uncovered about him would ruin this image that she has managed to created of him. To have that perfect image of Jackson stripped away because she was exposed to the secrets he was hiding… Well that would be devastating for her. She just doesn't want to know anything about her father so that her perception of him won't change."

He paused.

"She's too stubborn and set on admiring her father, that she refuses to be shown anything that might ruin that image of him."

"But how do you know that she'll come around?" I was slightly amazed at his psychology skills.

"I told her that her father may still be alive and that there were things about him that she doesn't know. She may deny it now, but she's the type of girl that needs to find answers when given a hint. I'm depending on her instincts to kick in and make her want to investigate her father."

"So, basically you placed ideas of her father in her head, and now you're just waiting for them to take root," I summed up, "That's so wrong! You're letting guilt eat away at her brain! She'll feel guilty for not wanting to know more about her father."

"No. I'm letting _curiosity_ eat away at her conscience. I'm depending on her to eventually come back and help me find out what H.U.S.H really is. Finding out about her father is just another bonus in the investigation," Batman finished. I got up to leave, sensing an end to the conversation.

Wow. Harsh words by the Bat.

**Bethany's POV**

The days went on like this: I would go to school on time, sit with my friends in class and lunch, watch Artemis get in trouble for the smallest things, come back and train with the Team, and then finish my homework late at night. Eventually, I caught up on all my makeup homework and I was actually able to get to bed around 10:30 pm every night. Life was actually starting to look up. I was even starting to get used to Barbara.

A week after the conversation with Batman, my wounds were all healed, and the bruises were even fading. The scabs were gone, leaving light scars everywhere. Zatara and Martian Manhunter said that the scars would go away because of all the unnatural healing that had been applied.

The next week, I had woken up earlier than usual. I had had a dream about my father's death. But now, the dream seemed unreal and hazy. Like I had just imagined it all along. I shook my head. No, my father died in that explosion. There is no doubt about it. Was there?

I got ready for school and decided to head out early, even though it was still about 7:15. I didn't really want to stick around and wait for M'gann to start pestering me about her cooking. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was… revolting. If _anyone_ was going to tell her it was bad, it would be Superboy. Superboy and M'gann have been getting visibly closer. Artemis and I were making bets on when they would actually start to date, much to Wally's dismay.

When I got to school, I picked a more secluded spot than the fountain. I walked to the corner of the wide stairs in front of the doors to the building. It was quiet and peaceful. I was probably sitting there for 15 minutes, just basking in the perfect weather and thinking that life was good, when I felt someone sit down next to me. I opened my eyes and looked over to see Dick. He was simling at me, eyes shining.

"Well, you looked like you were having fun," He said.

I sighed in content, "Right now, my life seems to finally be working out," I leaned back to continue relaxing.

He leaned back next to me. I tried not to notice that our elbows were centimeters apart.

"So, where's Barbara?" I said casually, trying not to sound jealous.

"I wouldn't know," He replied. For some reason, I found myself smiling at that answer. He sounded like he didn't really care about her whereabouts, and guiltily, I felt happy about that.

I shifted around a bit, trying to rest my head on the step above me, but wherever I sat, it hurt my neck. I sat up, uncomfortable.

Dick looked over at me, "You can lean on my shoulder if you want. Laying on stone steps isn't the most comfortable thing."

I stared at his shoulder, wondering if I should do it or not. Well why the hell not? I scooted closer to him and leaned my head on his strong shoulder. But Dick gently moved my head from his shoulder to his chest. And then he slowly leaned back, so that I was basically laying on his chest on the wide stairs. I let a little laugh escape my lips and I could feel the rumble through Dick's chest as he laughed, too. I silently thanked the great architects that decided to make the steps this wide so that this could happen.

It definitely felt more comfortable, and his body warmth was starting to envelope me, along with the shining of the sun above us. There was a cool breeze that picked up, making sure that I wouldn't be too hot. Surprisingly for a nerd like Dick, his chest was hard, and I could feel the muscles underneath his dress shirt. I caught the sound of his heartbeat. Interestingly enough, Dick's heart was beating a little faster than normal. I realized that our heartbeats were almost beating in sync. It lulled me into a daze.

We layed in silence together for about 5 minutes. Something about his chest felt familiar, but before I could decipher what it was, a bunch of shadows blocked our sun.

We both looked up to see Kelli and her gang. Reluctantly, I sat up and Dick sat up slow

"Hi, Bethany! We were just, like, thinking of you! So, I guess you couldn't make it to my little party last night," She looked down at me. I saw a glimmer of amusement? Or was that anger?

"Oh, yeah. I was busy. I was at the gym with my sister again. We go every week," I replied lamely. I glanced at Dick, who had his eyebrows furrowed and was studying Kelli very carefully. I noticed how Kelli and her gang didn't even so much as glance in Dick's direction. They acted like Dick wasn't even there.

"Well, you, like, didn't come shopping with me the first three times I invited you, then you didn't, like, want to hang out the other two times I asked. Then you didn't show up to the party last night. Even in school, you always hang out with those losers instead of, like, with us," She jabbed a finger in Dick's direction, "If I didn't know any better, I would say that you're, like, avoiding us." But that's exactly what I was trying to do. Every time she asked me to hang out, I got that same bad feeling.

Think, Bethany, think! Think of an excuse, quick!

"Well, you know," I was surprised at how even my voice was. I stared at my nails to give a casual and nonchalant effect, "Moving to a new school two weeks into the semester is kind of stressful," I decided to add in a couple "like"'s, "Like, you know how the teachers can be, like, _so _annoying and, like, assign all this homework."

"You're totally right! Sorry," She said. I inwardly sighed in relief, "You know, I'm hosting an even bigger party tonight. You _have _to come. I'll send Grant to come pick you up. What's your address?"

I froze. What do I say? I couldn't just say, "Yeah! I live in Mount Justice in Happy Harbour! See you at 7!" Gotham wasn't even anywhere _near_ Happy Harbour! Did I make up an address? Before the silence could stretch too long, Dick jumped in.

"I'll drive her! She lives near me, anywase," How did Dick always know when I was stuck?

Kelli squinted her eyes at him, "You'd _better _bring her. No tricks or games. My address is here," She pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to me, "If she doesn't show up, it's on you. I'm going to come after you, you loser," She directed at Dick. Then she stalked away, her clan trailing at her feet.

Right when she was gone, Dick whirled on me.

"You can't go."

"What? Why not?" I was shocked at his immediate reaction.

"I could tell you didn't want to go. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"But you offered to drive me there!"

"That was only because I didn't like the idea of Grant driving you."

I blushed at that comment.

"I don't want to, but I have to. She said that she would come after you if I didn't show up," I said glumly.

"I don't think she meant it. And if she did, I could take care of myself!" Dick said with a serious face.

"No, I think she did mean it. With Kelli, anything is possible. She gets what she wants, even if she has to force someone."

"I don't like this."

"You don't have to. I'll basically just show up and… I don't know, eat junk food and sit in the corner…?" I said, trailing off. Come to think of it, I'd never actually been to a party before. I was never allowed to go to Homecoming, Winter Formal, or a house party. Ash and Cain always went and then I was stuck being grounded by Grace or Peter for doing something so miniscule.

Dick sighed and face palmed, "You've never been to a party before, have you? Oh, God. You know nothing about the real world."

I blushed and got defensive, "What? Are you saying I'm naive?"

"No, I'm saying you're innocent. You really don't know what goes on at a party, do you?"

I shook my head no.

"First of all, there is no such thing as 'just sitting in the corner.' Especially for you, because you are involved with Kelli, there's no way everyone's just going to leave you alone. Second of all, the food at parties are probably threaded with drugs. And as for drinks, there's probably only going to be alcohol."

"So like in the movies and on tv," I summed.

"Yeah, except worse."

Great, "Well, I'm still going to go. I don't want you to get hurt or humiliated because I was too scared to go to a stupid party."

"But she wouldn't dare hurt me. My father is Bru-"

"RRRIIINNNGGG"

His lips moved, but I couldn't hear what he was saying because we were sitting right underneath the obnoxiously loud bell signaling first period.

"What did you say?" I asked when it finished.

"Nothing, forget it." He grabbed my hand, like he always did nowadays, and together, we maneuvered our way around the crowded hallways.

**Don't worry, the next chapter will be about the very… eventful… party! Stay traught this week for me! Don't worry, I'll be back!**


	20. Stubborn

**Okay guys, so there is some … umm sexual content in the next three or so chapters, but no actual sex okay? So if you guys are really sensitive to that, just know that I _did _say that it was adult level reading material. So btw. But it's a really good chapter and is really important for the rest of the plot! So don't miss out!**

**Bethany POV**

After school was the gymnastics tryout. I had completely forgotten about it. I actually didn't know that much about gymnastics, only the basics. The only cool thing I could do was jump off of a two story building: aka my old house. I never really liked to do flips in a fight because it always exerted too much energy, energy I could be using to fight. But Artemis was right. Gymnastics could definitely help me become more flexible and stronger.

Artemis and I got to the gym late and stretched while the other students chatted with each other in groups. Then we heard the door open and the chatting quieted down. Artemis and I didn't bother looking up because we were touching our toes at the moment. I decided I would just listen.

"Okay, kiddos! The tryout will begin. I'm Coach White, and this is my teacher assistant, Richard Grayson," My head snapped up to see Dick waving at the group of students who were all trying out.

"Well, that was unexpected," Artemis murmured next to me.

I nodded in agreement. I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. Then Dick looked right at us and smirked. I snapped my mouth shut and looked away. Why didn't he say he was going to be coaching, too? This was going to be so embarrassing.

The tryout didn't go that poorly. In fact, Artemis and I were the strongest ones there (I wonder why) and we were able to hold positions much longer than the other students. Of course, when it came to flexibility, I was _much _ more flexible than Artemis, but she knew more moves than I did. I insisted it was because she had been training with the Team longer. I have only been training for a couple of days. Even Dick was being chill at the tryout. He immediately came to coach us and help us out.

"Dick, you didn't tell me you were the freaking _coach's assistant!" _I said as Artemis and I were doing handstands along the wall. Dick was standing in front of me, upside down from my view.

"Well, would it have mattered?"

I stuttered for words to express my confusion and my feelings.

"What she means to say is that she didn't know that you were _that _much of an overachiever," Artemis volunteered. Our arms were starting to shake a little because we had been doing a handstand for over a little more than 2 minutes. My head felt really heavy with all the blood that had moved to my head.

Dick gave out a snort and said, "One more minute on the wall for you, Artemis. As for you, Bethany. I think you can come down now. I'll show you how to properly come out of the handstand."

When I was done, A question popped to mind.

"Hey, Dick?"

"Yeah?" We were standing in front of Artemis, watching her suffer.

"How long have you been doing gymnastics for? I mean, you would have to be really good if you're the coach's assistant."

He was quiet for a long time, and I thought that I had said something wrong, but then he spoke quietly, "Since I was a child. I have been doing gymnastics for as long as I can remember."

I stayed quiet, thinking he was done.

Suddenly, he turned to me, serious, "Did you know I used to be part of a circus?"

"That's so cool! What did you do?"

"I did the trapeze. I remember that I loved the feeling of freedom when I was in the air. I loved the exhilaration of the flight. I loved my pare…" He trailed off, daydreaming.

"What happened? Why'd you quit?" I asked quietly. I was unsure if I should be asking these questions.

He paused and looked me right in the eye, his electric blue eyes not so electric anymore. They looked a little misty as he said, "I was hurt and broken."

I let the subject drop after that.

At the end, I was sweaty, my limbs felt rubbery, and I was exhausted. But nonetheless, I went the cave and washed up and then got ready to go to the stupid damn party.

I was standing outside of the cafe, watching the zipping cars race past me on the busy street. There were dozens of people waiting around, sitting on the outside chairs, or walking past in a rush to get to their destination. I had told Dick to meet me at the cafe at 7:30 before we went. He could pick me up there. I told him some lame excuse about needing to pick up some snacks of my own or something like that. What am I going to tell him when he notices that I've never told him where I live? What if Barbara or Rose want to hang out at my house and I'm like, "Oh sorry. No outsiders are allowed in the cave that I live in." Ugh, this was going to get so complicated in the future.

I was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. I had my dark hair in a simple french braid down my back and no makeup. I decided that I didn't really want to wear anything flashy or draw any attention. I wanted to stick to the shadows, so that was what I was going to do.

I saw a sleek, black BMW drive up in front of the cafe and Dick rolled down the passenger window, motioning me to come in. I looked down at my watch. It was 7:15. He was really early.

Once I was inside and buckled, we drove off.

"Wow, you're early," I said, trying to make small talk.

He just grumbled in response.

"I'm sorry to drag you into all this," I said solemnly. I really was. If I hadn't been laying on him today, then Kelli wouldn't have used him against me.

"No, it's fine. I'm glad I found out about all this. I didn't know that Kelli has been bothering you."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Do you like hanging out with Kelli?" Dick asked quietly.

I thought about it. It's not like I was trying to hang out with her to be popular. In fact, I always tried to avoid her. But Kelli had never really done anything wrong to me. In fact, she's always been nice to me and always tries to hang out with me. It was just _me _that never returned any of the favors.

"I don't know. She's nice to me and all, but something is just off about her. She's never really done anything wrong to me, it's just something in me never feels comfortable around her… I don't know how to explain it," I sighed. I really didn't know how to explain the feeling I got whenever she asked me to hang out.

"Instincts? Are your _instincts_ telling you that something is wrong with her?" Dick asked. I noticed that his voice was suddenly deeper and he sounded much more serious. His voice… it suddenly sounded familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yeah, something like that. I don't know. Whenever she asks me to hang out with her, I suddenly get this dreading feeling in my stomach and I have a bad feeling," I said softly. Then I realized how stupid that sounded. No one would understand what I was saying but the Team. They knew all about instincts, and I'm just talking to a kid that goes to my school. He probably thinks I'm crazy.

"I see," Dick murmured, more to himself. He looked deep in thought, so I decided not to talk.

We arrived a few seconds later at this huge house with a lot of cars parked in front of it. There were cars lined up on both sides of the street and the semi circle driveway leading up the house was filled with cars. No one could drive through, the place was too packed with cars. Some were even bold enough to park on the grass of the semicircle. One word came to mind: mansion. The place was definitely a party house, and all the lights were lit, creating a glow around the house itself. Once I opened the window, I could hear the thrum of a bass and it seemed like the whole house was bouncing to the beat of the music. Dick had to stop at the beginning of the long driveway to the house because there was no more room for him to get closer. I opened the door.

"Forget what I said earlier. It was stupid. I was probably just rambling," I said to him before climbing out of the low car. I looked back down into the car, ready to say thank you. Dick was frowning, like he was disappointed or upset.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" He asked. Concern was etched everywhere on his face. It made me feel guilty about going, but I kept telling myself that I was doing this so that Dick could stay out of it.

"Yeah, I think I'll be fine," I said, giving him my best fake smile. I shut the door before he could protest and started walking slowly up the driveway. I heard his car rumble in reverse and then all of a sudden, I saw his car move through the grass next to me and stop. The car jolted into park and the door opened and slammed shut.

I turned around, arms crossed, narrowing my eyes at a nearing Dick.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I still have a bad feeling about this. Like you said, instincts. My instincts are telling me that I need to be here. I'm having a really bad feeling about this," He said. He was completely serious. There was no more cheerfulness or playfulness in his voice.

Something was boiling up in me.

"Do you not trust me? It's just a fucking party. I can freaking take care of myself!" I said, almost shouting. I don't know why, but I was getting kind of angry. I was going to this stupid party to get him _out _of Kelli's attention. Now he was trying to follow me into the damn party, and that would only make Kelli take more of an interest in him.

"Bethany, I'm just trying to help! Something's going to happen! I know it, I can feel it!" He exclaimed. I could hear the desperation in his voice. He was trying to get me to understand. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Dick, I've been trying to keep you out of this mess with Kelli, and now you're just getting more involved. Thanks for dropping me off, but I can take care of myself from here," I said. Then I added a little more quietly, "I'm stronger than you think."

"It's not about strength, Bethany!" He called after me because I was already speed-walking away from him, "It's about experience, which you don't -"

I ran into something hard. I stepped back, rubbing my nose and looked up at… Oh, God. Mike was standing right in front of my, a sloppy grin on his face. I could smell the alcohol coming off of him in waves, and his eyes looked lazy, but they widened when they saw me. I took another step backwards, in disgust.

"Well, what do you know? I ran into the girl I've been looking for this whole night!" His words were slightly slurred. Then he looked at Dick, who was far behind me and had an angry look on his face. His palms were clenching and unclenching, like he wasn't sure what to do. Mike jabbed a finger in Dick's direction, his finger was wavering in the air unsteadily as he said, "Is this guy bothering you, honey? Come on, I'll make you forget about him."

Before I could process what that meant, Mike had already crossed over to me in one giant stride while I was still looking at Dick. I suddenly felt a pair of burly hands grab my butt and press me hard to him. I inhaled the smell of overpowering alcohol. I tried to move my hands away, but they were crushed in between Mike's chest and mine. I was forcefully being molded into him. He squeezed and grabbed my butt harshly over and over again, and pressed me further into him. I was hyperaware of his hardness through his pants.

I squirmed in desperation to get away and eventually kicked him in the shins. When he backed away in surprise, I punched him square in the face, making him stagger back, one hand holding a bloody nose, his other hand waving in front of him, trying to get me away. I grabbed his flailing hand and expertly flipped him over my shoulder, hearing a satisfying, heavy thud as Mike hit the pavement. He groaned and slowly shifted in pain.

Immediately, Dick was next to me and held my face in both of his palms, his eyes searching mine for anything.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice was frantic, "Sorry! I should have stopped him, I should have been there."

I pulled away from his grasp, although there were still tingles from where his hands were.

"I told you I could take care of myself," I said firmly. And then I marched away, towards the house.

**Yay! I told you it wasn't too bad. Stay traught okay? I'm going on my school trip for five days, after that I have a really long chapter next. I have it already written and I may just post it later tonight to give you guys something extra to read while I'm gone, so stay on the lookout! Sorry, I won't be able to post for 5 days :( And tell me what you guys think of the new cover! I need feedback!**


	21. Party Poopers

**Hey guys! Okay, so I still feel guilty about leaving you guys for a week without any new chapters, so I wrote all day and instead of splitting it into two chapters (which is what I would usually do), I just kept it the same. So you guys have a really long one to last you the week! Stay traught for me, kay?**

**Yeah, this chapter has some... sexual content in it. I warned you, so don't sue me.**

**Bethany POV**

I acted nonchalant and fine, but inside, I felt like crying. I felt so violated. No one had ever touched me like that. My family never even kissed or hugged me. It took me a while to stop pulling away when Dick would take my hand in the hallways.

Once I entered the house, the pungent smell of alcohol, sweat, and smoke filled my lungs. I tried not to gag as a moved through the party. There were _so many people._ The whole foyer and all the rooms on the first floor were packed with people. You had to squirm your way through everyone just to walk around the house. Out in the back, the lights were on and there was this huge pool filled with people. It was a night party outside in the pool. I looked everywhere, but bouncing and swaying people obscured my vision of anything. Every time I got to a new room, there would be couples making out in every corner. I continued to climb around people.

I had everything planned out. First I would say hi to Kelli so that she would know that I was here. Then I would grab a snack and find a quiet and deserted room and sit there for about fourty five minutes. And then I would check in with Kelli every 15 minutes to make sure she knew I was still there. And then I would leave after 45 minutes of this party. Done. Problem solved.

I could feel Dick weaving his way behind me. Ugh, the dude never just gives it up. I moved faster. I grabbed a coke can from the mini fridge on the way. I stopped and looked over at Dick, who shook his head at me.

"Dick, it's unopened. I think it's safe from drugs," I had to shout over the booming music and talking crowds. He just frowned at me and I rolled my eyes in response. I popped it open and took a long swig of it before looking back at Dick with a smirk. He actually looked sad. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned away to keep looking for Kelli. If he didn't want to be here, he didn't have to. I told him not to come and he insisted. He can't tell me what to do. God, he was like Batman. Always thought that I would just listen to him whenever he told me to do something and it wasn't his choice.

"Bethany!" I heard a high pitched voice call out to me. I turned around and saw Kelli. She was in these tattered, ripped, white jean shorts and a black, cropped tank top. It basically just looked like a sports bra and revealed her surprisingly muscular stomach. Her hair was down and it was sparkling, like she had sprayed some sparkles in it. She was even wearing these high, black patent leather high heels. Her eye shadow was dark and I could see all the makeup packed onto her face. She was walking slowly over to me. Her legs wobbled a little bit, making her look dipsy. It was like people parted to let her go past. She didn't have to climb and squeeze around people to get about 2 feet. She stopped in front of me and looked me up and down, disapprovingly. Dick was no where to be found. I could feel his eyes on me, but I couldn't find him anywhere. God, stupid ninja.

"_What_ are you wearing? Better question. _Why_ are you wearing _that_ to a party?" She asked incredulously, "You should be showing off your sexy legs and your stomach, like me!" She giggled. I noticed that she had a plastic red cup filled with a brown liquid that sloshed around whenever she moved. I didn't smell any alcohol on her breath, but she definitely sounded and looked drunk.

"Well, I'm here! So I'm just gonna go… ummm have some fun," I said as happily as I could and added a smile. I hoped that she would let me go. But of course, no such luck.

"Oh, come on! I need to show you the outside party!" She grabbed my coke and set it down next to hers. Then she grabbed my wrists and dragged me outside. She was staggering a little when we got outside. The backyard would have been gorgeous, if it weren't for the hundreds of people in and out of the pool showing off as much skin as they possibly could. There were even two guys running around naked. The pool was humungous and there were lights lighting up the whole backyard.

"What do you think?" Kelli asked me, her eyes shining.

"Umm, it's pretty cool," I said. I was paying more attention to how many kegs of alcohol there were lining the poolside, "Are your parents here?" I asked curiously.

"Nah, they don't really care. They just went to our lake house for the week. They let me do this stuff all the time," She said casually. Then she added, "Do you want to see the boat dock on the side of the house? We just got it," She sounded excited.

But I didn't really have a good feeling about going there with her alone in the dark. Nobody went to the side of the house, so we would be there all alone. Something in me just didn't feel comfortable with that. I thought up of something that wouldn't sound suspicious.

"I kind of just want to go inside and party. I'm gonna go back in, okay?" I said, pretending to sound enthusiastic about partying.

I noticed a flash of something in her eyes for a split second before it was replaced with a grin as she said, "Okay! Make sure to come find me later, okay?"

I just smiled at her and then left. Well that was weird. I walked back to the house and went to the same room to find my drink. I picked up my coke can from the side table and walked towards a hallway. It seemed a little quieter there. Dick suddenly popped up next to me.

"Where have you been?" I asked him. How did he know where I was?

"I thought you didn't care," He retorted. There was no smile on his face, and his eyes had lost their brightness.

I huffed and raised the coke to my mouth. But it was immediately taken out of my hands.

"Don't drink that," Dick said firmly. Okay, this guy was seriously getting on my nerves.

"And why the hell not?" I said, allowing my annoyance to seep into my voice.

"If you leave your drink somewhere, don't continue drinking out of it. Someone could have put something in it. It's common at parties."

I snorted at that, "Dick, your just overreacting to everything," And then I snatched the coke can out of his grasp. And just to prove my point to him, I downed the rest of the drink. I crushed the can and tossed it into the nearby trashcan. I turned to Dick, who looked really angry.

I smirked at him and said, "See? Nothing's wrong. You just overreact to every-" I stopped. The room had started spinning. I tried to speak and keep teasing Dick, but my words blurred together and it was like I couldn't form the words completely. The edges of my vision were pulsing black and whenever I looked at something, it distorted. I finally stopped trying to speak and I looked at Dick, blinking my eyes. I stood up straighter and kept my face blank, trying to act like nothing was wrong. Oh, God. He was so going to be angry. I gave him a weak and sheepish smile before trying to run away. The room tilted in odd directions, but then the floor was rapidly coming to meet me. But I never touched it. Strong arms kept me in place and slowly lifted me up, bridal style. I leaned my head into Dick's strong chest and my hand moved of its own accord, resting on his chest. Something about it felt all too familiar. It was like… like Dick was… I couldn't think straight. I could feel that I had felt this before, but I couldn't remember anything. When did someone else pick me up in a similar way? I remembered it was at night… What happened that night? Ugh! I couldn't remember! Why did the muscles underneath Dick's shirt feel too familiar? Why did Dick's jaw look familiar from this view?

He placed me on a chair in a deserted room. The lights were off and the room was away from the party. He had found a secluded and quiet room in the giant house. I immediately felt empty when he let go.

"Stay right here, do you understand? You're drunk. I'm getting you some water, I'm taking a towel in case you throw up in my car, and then we are leaving." He said firmly to me. He sounded like he was scolding a child for stealing a cookie. I tried to tell him this, but my words just blended together into nonsense. He looked amused for a second, but then shook his head frowning. Then he left.

I sat there for a complete ten seconds before I got up and staggered back to the party. Like hell I was staying put. He can't tell me what to do! I was making my way out the door when I ran into someone. I looked up and Grant's face swam into view.

"Well, hello there, beautiful."

I knew I should have backed away, but all I could do was stumble backwards and then fall on my butt. My heart was beating wildly. He wasn't drunk. I was sure of it. His eyes were too clear, and he wasn't stumbling around. But I was drunk.

I backed up on my hands and feet, trying to get away from him. I ended up just going right back to the room. He followed me there. I backed up into the far wall and staggered to my feet. I brought my shaky fists up. Okay this was going to get ugly.

I tried to tell him to get away, but the words came out jumbled. He came forward, closing the distance between us. I put my hand out on his chest and pushed with all my might. It didn't do anything. He just looked down at my hand and grinned. He took it and put it over my head against the wall.

"You know, Mike told me you punched his nose and then knocked him to the ground," He leaned in to whisper in my ear. He pressed his body against mine. I was trapped between him and the wall. I squirmed around weakly. God, I fucking hated being drunk! You couldn't do anything! His heavy breath danced across my neck as he whispered, "I like it when girls get aggressive."

My heart was beating too fast and too loudly. My mind knew where this was going. And there was nothing I could do. I had never been kissed by a boy before. Weren't first kisses supposed to be romantic? Was this seriously how I was going to have my first kiss? I was going to have my first kiss against my will! Oh, God, Bethany. Shut up! There were worse things at hand right now! I was fighting as hard as I could, but my limbs were sluggish and they moved too weakly when I tried to push him away from me. The sounds of the party seemed so far away. No one was here to help me. Dick was probably stuck either trying to find water that hadn't had alcohol dumped into it, or stuck in a crowd and couldn't get here fast enough. Either way, I was definitely screwed. Literally.

"I've been wanting to do this since the first time I laid eyes on your hot ass," He growled in my ear. Then he grabbed my other hand, that had started hitting his chest weakly, and brought it up next to the other one. I was defenseless.

He pushed himself further into me and brought his mouth to the sensitive spot on my neck. I was hyperaware of his hardness pressed against my inner thighs. I started kicking out frantically, but my legs only moved slowly, just brushing his legs back and forth. He kissed my neck several times before moving up along my jaw, trailing wet kisses. He skipped over my mouth and started going back down the other side. He reached the other side of my neck and sucked on the sweet spot of my neck for a long time before leaning back to look at my eyes.

He had this big stupid grin on his face. I think I had tears running down my face because he start to kiss and lick them away. And then he tried to dive in and kiss my lips, but I looked away, causing him to kiss my cheek, his lips kissing the very corner of my lips. He growled viciously and grabbed both of my wrists with one hand. Using his free hand, he grabbed my face and swung it forward to face him. He licked his lips as he stared at my mouth. He dove in and grabbed my bottom lip with his teeth and pulled it. I let out a low scream, which was all that would come out, and he only put more pressure on his bite. He pulled harder before releasing. He traced his tongue around my lips and then bit my bottom lip again with his teeth and pulled.

I kicked around as hard as I could and then I tried to make as much noise as possible. Come on, Dick?! What the fuck is taking so long?!

He dove back down to my neck like a vulture. He kissed my sweet spot again before sucking on it. he sucked harder and harder, again and again. His lips made my skin crawl. I was still trying to scream at him and I was trying to twist out of his grip.

He sucked the tender flesh into his mouth again and this time, I felt his teeth pinch it. Instead of kicking him, I started kicking the wall to make as much noise as possible.

His head slipped further down and he used his free hand to move aside the collar of my shirt so that it was over my shoulder. He slipped my bra strap over my shoulder and started kissing my shoulder. He started going lower and lower. He was sucking right above where my breast started. My shirt was still on, but nothing was stopping Grant.

I started screaming for help and I probably started screaming all the cuss words I knew, but it all sounded garbled.

I felt a cold hand reach underneath my shirt and start inching it's way up, while Grant returned to sucking on the other side of my neck. His hand inched higher and higher and higher. He almost reached my bra, but a crash came from the door.

Dick was standing there, fuming. His face was so red and I could basically see steam rising from him. The towel and water that he had been holding had fallen to the floor. Grant had stopped kissing my neck and his hand pulled away from underneath my shirt. He swung around, a smug look on his face.

"What the fuck is your problem? Can't you see I'm busy?" Grant said, gesturing at me. He was still holding my hands together with a burly hand. That was the only thing holding me up. I was basically just slumped against the wall, being held up by my hands.

I made eye contact with Dick's blazing eyes and he must have seen the tears on my face or pure fear in my eyes because he immediately snapped out of his angry state and charged Grant. He knocked Grant over and my hands were immediately released. I collapsed onto the floor in a heap. I curled up in a ball and cried.

I was aware of grunts and crashes going on around me, but all I could do was hug my body and cry. I was humiliated and I felt so violated. I had been taken advantage of and I had been helpless to do anything. I had never… I didn't even know what to think anymore.

I heard the sounds of wrestling going on around me, I lifted my head up to see that Grant was now curled up on the floor, face bleeding. Dick kept kicking Grant over and over again, yelling vile things over and over again to Grant. I had never seen Dick so angry and out of control before. He had always been the nerdy, trolling, and gentle guy. The boy I saw in front of me was totally different. When Dick seemed satisfied that Grant was unconscious, he immediately appeared in front of me.

He didn't touch me.

Dick just kneeled in front of me. His hands extended towards my face, but then he stopped himself and put them back down.

"Are you okay?" He whispered softly to me. I could tell that his electric blue eyes were trying to search my face, but I wouldn't look at him. I looked down at the floor, tears still flowing down my face and falling to the floor.

I slowly shook my head no.

I felt Dick stiffen in front of me. He extended his hand out and lifted my chin gently and moved my head to the side, exposing my raw neck. I cringed back from him and tried to melt into the wall. I heard Dick growl lowly and he was up in a flash. All of a sudden, he was kicking Grant in the face to wake him up. When Grant woke up, Dick started kicked Grant in the balls over and over again, yelling all the curses that he knew.

Every time I looked at Grant, I felt like throwing up. I crawled to a potted plant in the corner while Dick was still yelling at a curled up Grant. Then, I let the bile come up my throat and just let it out. I didn't usually throw up, but this was an exception. I was too upset to be embarrassed about puking. And Dick only glanced at me for a second, before he went back to using Grant as a punching bag and screaming every word that came to his mind. I took a swig from the water bottle that Dick had brought me and wiped my mouth on the towel. Then I backed into the wall again, whimpering. I felt so stupid and helpless. I wanted to beat the shit out of Grant, too. But I couldn't even get up to do it. My vision was starting to slowly spin.

"Di… Le jus go hom…" I tried to say, my speaking was getting a little better.

He stopped and ran back over to me, landing on the floor in front of me, "What?" He asked, staring straight into my watery eyes. The room was spinning faster.

"Dick… Let's just… go… home," I was choking on the words, and the tongue numbing effects lessened if I properly annunciated everything slowly.

He nodded, "I don't think that you can walk. May I?" He gestured to carry me. Gratefully, I nodded.

He scooped me into his familiar arms like I weighed nothing and swiftly carried me out. He speed walked past the party and towards the front door. The overpowering music was making my world spin way too fast. The last thing that I remembered before passing out was the chilly night air wiping the tears away on my cheeks.

**Comment, like, follow, share... stay traught, my lovelies!**


	22. Hidden Talents

**So, I took a sick day from school. Sick day doesn't mean get better, sleep, and catch up on homework. No, no, no. Sick day means write my Bethany Ford story, eat as much junk food as possible, and watch Netflix. Took about 3 hours to write this. So here ya go!**

**Bethany's POV**

When I opened my eyes, I was met with high ceilings and soft light coming through big windows. I immediately sat up, my head throbbing in protest. I let out a groan and tried to hop off the extremely fluffy and large king sized bed that I was on. The room started spinning and I started falling to the floor

"Woah there. Easy. Your hangover is still there," A familiar voice said in my ear. Strong arms grasped my hips and lifted me back onto the bed.

"Dick? Where am I?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. My throat was a little croaky and cracked at the end.

He hesitated before answering, "You're at my place. Welcome to the Wayne mansion," He gestured to the large room. He didn't sound so enthusiastic about it.

It took me a second to register where I had heard the name "Wayne."

"Wait, so you're Bruce Wayne's son?" I managed to get out.

He nodded shyly.

"Y-you're… THE Bruce Wayne's son?!" I said even louder.

"Well, technically… no," He tapped his chin, "I'm his _adoptive_ son."

I was silent, my head slowly putting things together. The gears in my brain were slowly turning.

"Did you know that Bruce Wayne gave me the scholarship to get into Gotham Academy?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes," Dick said plainly.

"Why didn't you tell me you were Bruce Wayne's…" How do I say this?

"Ward. I'm his ward."

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me?"

He hesitated before answering, "I didn't want to. I wanted you to like me because we were truly friends. Not because you felt obligated to be my friend. Also, I wanted to make sure that you were truly my real friend. Not pretending to be my friend just because I had a rich adoptive father."

I was shocked.

"Dick! I wouldn't do that! How could you think that I would ever even think of pretending to be someone's friend just because they were rich?" I asked incredulously.

"It's happened before," He mumbled.

"Sorry," I quickly recovered, "It's just that… well, you know how I hate meeting new people and you know how I hate having to talk to people I don't like. If I don't like people, I usually just keep my distance. But Dick, I hang out with you and I talk to you because we're true friends and, well, I really like you," Then I quickly added waving my hands in the air in front of me, "As a friend, of course!"

His shoulders slumped a little, like he was disappointed.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't know at the time." He said quietly.

It was silent for a few moments, allowing me time to think about what happened last night.

"Oh, shit!" I said, clasping my hand over my mouth.

Dick looked at me in surprise.

"Dick, please tell me that I was just dreaming everything that happened last night…" I pleaded. I already knew the answer, but if one person just denied it, then I would as sure as hell believe it.

Instead of saying what I wanted him to say, he said what I already knew.

"I'm sorry, Bethany," He said solemnly. His eyes were angry and his fists clenched the bed spread beneath us.

My hands found my face and I cried. My crying was silent, but my shoulders racked my whole body. Nowadays, it just seemed like whenever I cried, nothing every came out of my mouth. I heard Dick slam the bed under his fist in frustration.

"I should've been there! I shouldn't have left you alone!" He shouted to himself, "I should've… I could've saved you! If only I hadn't left, if only I -"

"Stop!" I cried out and immediately, my arms were wrapped around him. I had seen him angry twice in less that 24 hours, "Don't beat yourself over something you couldn't have prevented! It's not your fault. It's not your fault."

It wasn't his fault.

It was mine.

"Bethany, please stop crying," Dick's voice pleaded. I hadn't realized I had started sobbing again. He grabbed either side of my face with both of his hands and slightly shook me, "Stop, please. I can't stand to see you cry."

"I-It's all my fault! Dick, I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! I should've listened to you! I should've listened! I was so stupid! Goddamnit! Why?! Why didn't I just listen to you?! Why?! Why did I have to prove anything to you by drinking that stupid coke! Why?!" I cried into his chest and he held me tightly.

He stroked my hair and cooed to me gently. I realized that he had never once said "I told you so." I melted into him and let him hold me up while I sobbed into his chest like a baby. We stayed like that for a long time. Eventually, I drifted off into a light sleep.

I gradually came out of my slumber to feel something warm underneath my head. My head didn't hurt as much anymore. I sat up quickly, face flushing when I realized that I had fallen asleep on Dick's chest. I looked down at Dick. He looked so peaceful and beautiful while he slept. The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest made me want to curl up and continue sleeping on him. But I resisted.

I was already embarrassed enough for crying in front of him like that. No one ever saw me cry. No one.

Dick's eyes fluttered open.

"Bethany?" He groaned.

I looked back at him, his startling crystal blue eyes making me melt. His hair was ruffled messily. I liked it. He definitely knew that I slept on him. Dick knows everything.

"Yeah?"

"You hungry?" His usual smile broke out. I nodded and he jumped up and grabbed my hand. He led me through hallways and past rooms and down a large spiraling staircase.

"Alfred?" Dick called out to a bustling kitchen. A fit old man turned around. He was making breakfast and turned to Dick with a scolding face on.

"Master Dick. You slept in quite too long. You shouldn't -" He abruptly stopped, realizing that I was there. I automatically shrunk behind Dick, still holding his hand, "And who might this young lady be?"

"This is Bethany. Bethany Ford," Dick said, lightly pulling me to stand next to him. He wrapped a hand around my waist and pulled me closer. Realization of what he was doing hit me. He knew that I hated to meet knew people, so he was trying to be comforting and gentle with me. Damn, why does Dick know everything?

"Greetings, Miss Ford," Alfred gave a little bow to me.

"Did she stay over last night?" A new voice asked from the hallway. Dick and I looked over to see a tall, muscular, broad man with lightly slicked back hair and a strong jaw line.

"Yes, Bruce. She stayed in my room last night," Dick replied easily. Wait, Bruce? As in, Bruce Wayne?

Both Alfred and Bruce narrowed their eyes at Dick and crossed their arms. Oh crap. Why did he have to make it sound so wrong?

"No, no, no!" Dick said quickly, "We didn't do anything like… that. I was just helping a friend in need."

"I see," Bruce said, his face softening up, "Hi, Bethany. I'm Bruce Wayne," He strode over to us and stretched out a hand to me. I hesitated before taking it. I don't know why I did it. I guess something was weird about him. He seemed so natural and smiley right now, but I knew there was more to him. I had felt his vibe before, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Okay!" Dick said loudly, trying to break the awkward silence, "Bethany and I are going to eat some breakfast and we'll do whatever she wants to do today. After all, it's the weekend!"

"Alfred, can you serve breakfast now? I know that you have cooked something delicious, as usual. Dick, why don't I join you guys for breakfast?"

Dick grumbled something about hovering parents and went to sit down. He patted the chair next to him, motioning me to sit next to him.

Breakfast went on with Bruce asking me a bunch of questions about school and Dick telling him that I was great. In the beginning, Dick would just answer for me, but Bruce started telling Dick to stop and let me answer for myself. He asked about which classes I was taking and if I liked Gotham Academy. He didn't seem fazed about me receiving the scholarship from him.

Now that I think about it, anytime that Dick bragged about all the honors classes I was in, Bruce didn't seem fazed by that either. Not that I wanted him to be. It was like Bruce already knew everything about me.

When the conversation died down and it started getting silent, Dick abruptly stood up.

"Okay, so I'm going to take Bethany out. Thanks Alfred for the breakfast!" He grabbed my hand, making me stand up.

"Thank you, Mr. Bruce and Mr. Alfred," I said as politely as I could.

"Please. Call me Bruce," Bruce said waving goodbye.

"You may call me Alfred instead," Alfred said, clearing the dishes. I felt guilty about leaving Alfred to do all the dishes, but Dick had already started dragging me outside to his car.

It felt weird to be with Dick on the weekend. Usually, I would be scrambling to finish my homework Friday night and then on Saturday and Sunday, I would be training with the Team at the cave. But I couldn't just tell Dick, "Hey, sorry I can't hang out right now. I have to get home, my mom is probably worried about me! Psych! I'm actually from a different dimension, so I don't even have parents right now. And my real mom doesn't give a shit about me and my home is a cave. I have to go train with a bunch of these teenage superheroes so that we can learn to fight together as a team against a bunch of these super villains and save the world. So yeah, bye!" No, Dick would probably take me to Arkham Asylum for the mentally ill. I wondered what the Team was doing…

"We're here," Dick said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up and realized that he had brought me to this beautiful and grassy park. There were a lot of children running around and parents grilling lunch for their families. It was peaceful and the place seemed like it should have been in a movie.

Huh, funny. Robin once told me that he and Batman fought Mr. Freeze here before him, Aqualad, and Kid Flash teamed up as the original Young Justice Team.

"I usually come here to relax. This place just reminds me of a time before a lot of stuff happened. The park here makes me… reminisce about life before it was changed," He said cryptically. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but he looked distant and deep in thought and I didn't want to keep pressing the matter.

"This place looks relaxing. A friend of mine told me a cool story about this place," I said absently.

He turned and looked at me curiously, his eyes shining, "Really? Who was it?"

"Rob-" I inwardly slapped my face about 100 times. Damn it, why was I so stupid?! I coughed a couple times to give me time to think as I struggled for a random name that would cover my screw up, "Robby. Yeah, my friend Robby. I don't think you know him. He's just a friend outside of school."

He was quiet for a second and then asked, "What was the story?"

"Eh, it's nothing. Just some friendly talk," I said sheepishly, trying to steer away from the subject. I couldn't just tell him that my good ol' pal Robin battled Mr. Freeze here with the aid of _the_ Batman.

Dick sat down and patted the spot next to him for me to sit down, "I don't mind."

Dang it. Why was Dick always so kind. It was frustrating sometimes. I sat down next to him in the soft grass. Why did he want to know about it? He must know that I don't really want to tell it, but he is still pushing the subject.

"Well, Robby said that he was here when Mr. Freeze attacked people in this park a couple months ago. He just told me how the heroic Batman and Robin Dynamic Duo saved the day and blah blah blah," I tried to act nonchalant about it.

I looked at Dick and his eyes were shining. He looked like he wanted to laugh.

"I was there, too!" He said excitedly. Okay, so maybe he just wanted me to tell the story because he was there too.

"Wow. It must have been scary," I said simply.

"Nah," He laid back and rested his head on top of his arm. He looked up at the sky casually, "I knew that Robin would save the day."

What about Batman? He must have just forgotten to mention Batman. I laid back down next to him in the soft grass. We both stared up at the clouds.

"I'd have to say that Robin was pretty awesome," He rolled over and leaned on one arm looking at me. His eyes were sparkling, "You should have seen him. Mr. Freeze had nothing on Robin."

"You must be a fan of Robin," I teased.

"Something like that," He rolled back over onto his back and we continued to daydream.

The rest of the day went on like that. We ended spending a long time at the park. Dick and I teased each other and took a lot of pictures with my phone (He found out I had no pictures on my phone and decided to fill it up). Dick even introduced me to his trolling game. After snagging a couple hot dogs from people, I got an idea.

"Dick, we should play the pick-pocketing game," I said, finishing off my hotdog.

His face suddenly got serious, "No, we don't steal things from people."

"But Dick, we stole these hotdogs," It's not like we couldn't afford them. No, Dick could probably buy all the hotdogs he wanted with his credit card. It was just the thrill that we got when we trolled.

"Yeah, but that's different. The family had over 2 dozen hot dogs and they only had three people. And they were probably going to throw it away anywase," Dick replied firmly.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night," I teased, "But come on, Dick. It's not like we're going to keep the stuff. We just grab stupid stuff out of their pocket, like a tissue or pen or something stupid like that. And then we put it back! I don't steal money. I'm not a robber!" I said defiantely. Seriously, I was quite the opposite of a robber, if you know what I mean.

He hesitated before replying, "But what if we get caught?"

"Then you don't get caught," I said with a wink and a mischievous grin. I walked up to the first person I saw. It was a teenage girl who had fallen asleep underneath a tree. She had a journal in one hand and a pen that had rolled out of her other hand. She must have fallen asleep writing in her diary or something like that.

I snuck up and grabbed the pen and lightly drew a heart in her journal. Then I drew a quick cartoon picture of Batman and Robin. Then I put the pen back down and waltzed back to Dick.

"See? Not so bad. In fact, it's nice!" I said, hands on my hips. He gave me an incredulous look.

"You call that pickpocketing?!" He said, eyebrows raised, "Watch and learn."

He crept up to this couple who was walking a stroller and grabbed a tissue from the man's back pocket. He waved it at me and put it in the wife's purse. He slunk back to me, proud.

We kept going back and forth, trying to prove that we were better than the other. Surprisingly Dick was really good at pick-pocketing. Why was he so good?

Dick had a lot of hidden skills.

**So it was a really calm chapter, but don't worry. The next chapter will heat up! Stay traught, fellow YJ fans!**


	23. The Huntress Returns

**Sorry, I haven't updated in a while! But I'm back!**

**Remember, * around a sentence means that they're using the mind link to talk!**

**I guess this chapter is kind of short, but it's to set up the scene for the next chapter.**

**Shoutout to Anime hotty lover.18 for always ALWAYS ALWAYS commenting on every chapter and making it known that it was read. Thanks sooo much! And thanks to EmpressLupin for the follow! And KaylaBear for favoriting! It makes me so happy to see that people are actually reading! **

**ON WATTPAD, I REACHED 3.1K READS AND OVER 100 VOTES FOR THIS STORY. JUST BTW.**

**Bethany POV**

"What would you say if I became the new Huntress?" I asked Artemis as we trained together in the cave after school.

"What?" She stumbled, but then regained her confident posture. I threw a kick and then a punch.

"Well," I said, in between grunts, "I've talked to your mom about her days as Huntress."

She grunted and sloppily threw three diagonal kicks at me.

"I know that she didn't have a great reputation as Huntress, and I was thinking that I could take up the mantle and make it my own."

She easily deflected my kick and stopped fighting. We stood facing each other.

"I don't know, Bethany," Artemis said, scratching her head, "Going under the name 'Huntress' might give you a bad reputation right off the bat."

"That's why I'll do good using the name 'Huntress!'" I replied confidently, "And besides, I can't think of another alias to use when I'm off fighting crime. I can't use my real name, that would just be stupid and would be asking for suicide."

"Excuse me?" Artemis crossed her arms and glowered down at me.

"Oh!" I waved my hands in front of me and quickly added, "But I think it works great for you! I mean, Artemis is the Greek goddess of hunt or something like that! I think that it's a great alias," I tried and probably failed at backpedaling.

She grunted and started walking towards the shower room, me trailing behind.

"You should ask my mom, not me. It's not my decision to make," She said, "You can come over later today and ask her."

"Yes!" I squealed once I was back in the cave.

I had gotten confirmation from Artemis' mom and I was now the new Huntress! But I had declined her generous offer of her old costume. Although it was cool, I wanted something that would represent the new Huntress, not the old one.

When I got back to my room, I started sketching up new ideas for my costume. It had to stylish, but comfortable. It couldn't be too flashy, and it had to be practical. It had to make me seem tough and confident. It had to be something that I would be able to rely on.

After I told Batman about my new costume idea, he ordered it from his private supplier. I wondered how many people know his real name.

It turns out that when Batman said, "It will be delivered soon," that means in two days. A whole 3 sets of the same superhero outfit arrived. Another extra set was for the winter. It was made out of some material that I couldn't pronounce, but it was light and soft and felt like nothing on my skin. It still kept me warm, regardless of its weightlessness.

The color scheme of the whole ensemble was a mixture of blacks and dark, midnight purples. The fitted, dark purple, cropped top had sleeves that went all the way down to my wrists. I had matching dark purple spandex-y shorts and a black fire-proof cape that reached to right under my butt that I could easily take on and off. I had a new utility belt that had everything that Robin suggested to put into it. And then I had a leg strap that held my gun (that Robin also taught me how to properly use). My black boots had compartments in them where I kept an extra blade, pocket knife, and a couple other small gas devices that Batman gave me. My mask was a midnight purple that worked just like Artemis' did. I even added the soft black, fingerless gloves that Batman had made for me. They had a compartment in them, too, for God know what. Recently, Robin had been teaching me the art of quarterstaff fighting. Since then, he had given me my very own metal extendable staff so that I could clip it to the side of my belt and use it whenever I want. Just like KF's suit, I could tap my belt and it would somehow transform into stealth mode. Basically it was just all black and had no reflections. I looked like a female version of Batman whenever I used it. Knowing that I looked like a female Batman, I decided to only use it when I needed it. I didn't really strive to look like the creepy, scary, emotionless, heartless… Okay, back to the outfit. My winter version had longer insolated pants, a full insolated shirt, and a longer cape with fur on the inside.

I finally felt like the crime fighter that I had been training for weeks to become.

My first mission took place in Qurac. We were supposed to bring down a group of drug dealers, their leader being a guy named Bane. According to Batman, they'd been preparing to distribute this psycho drug called Kobra-Venom. Our objective was to halt the production and prevent it from getting onto the market.

*I have a visual,* Robin said into the mind link. Robin, M'gann, and I dropped down onto a high beam in the shadows. The beam was at least two stories off the ground of the large warehouse factory. The place was filled with the noises of machines making this miracle drug. The three of us were to observe and tell the Team the best course of action for the attack. We were the most stealthy of the Team, so we were sent in first while the rest waited up in the bioship. For the first half of the mission, Robin would lead since Aqualad was inside the ship, not in the building. After Aqualad could get in, the he would take over.

The sky was dark outside, almost like a foreshadowing of what was to come. It was close to midnight as we observed the scene and listened to the conversation directly below us.

"Bane," a bald, poised man said, "You will distribute the first batch to Gotham, while I bring mine to Metropolis."

*That's Lex Luthor,* Robin said to me, pointing to the bald man.

*Lex is here?* Superboy asked curiously from the ship.

*He doesn't look that tough,* I said confidently.

*He may not fight, but he is one of the richest business men of Metropolis and does his work internationally. He's a very powerful man,* Robin replied.

*And apparently a very corrupt one, too. He's a billionaire, and yet he still involves himself with a double life,* I said.

*A lot of billionaires do,* Robin said quietly. I gave him a confused look.

We turned back to the scene.

"I think that you should have someone else lead the distribution in Gotham, not Bane. You know how he can screw thing up," A whiny, high pitched voice said from the corner. I looked to see a young, dark haired boy. His slender fingers curled back and forth as he stroked a cynical cat in his arms. He was standing next to hooded Psimon.

Bane let out a low growl and stepped towards the boy, "You have no say in our affairs, witchboy!" His booming voice reverberating throughout the huge room.

"Oh?" the witchboy smiled, his eyes glittering evilly like beads.

Bane started going towards him, growing and pulling back an arm to strike. Lex Luthor put an arm out, stopping Bane with a simple motion.

"What my partner means to say is that this is an affair between us. We do not require your suggestions, although we are grateful for your proposals, " Luthor stated. Bane backed off.

"Remind me why you're here, again," Bane spat at the witchboy, who hadn't even moved.

Psimon interjected before the boy could respond with a snarky comment.

"We are here to observe your work with the venom for ideas of our own type of venomous technology that will be released in the future."

*Aqualad, did you hear that?* Robin asked frantically.

*Yes. That will be crucial information to tell Batman.*

*Who's that?* I asked Robin, motioning to the witchboy.

*That's Klarion, the witchboy,* He responded, shaking his head, *There's a lot of powerful people in here.*

*If we work together as a team, then we will be assured a victory,* Aqualad's soothing voice sounded in my head.

*Is Klarion, like, a witch? Like an actual witch?* I asked curiously. Superpowers still came as a shock to me.

*Yes, Bethany. The word 'witch' is in the word 'witchboy.'* Artemis said sarcastically

*Shouldn't you be calling her Huntress when we're in the field?*Superboy asked.

*And Artemis, you shouldn't sass Bethany - I mean Huntress! She just asked an honest question," Wally said. I laughed at Artemis. Everyone was gaining up on her now, *She doesn't need your shit and - ow!* I inwardly giggled (which I'm pretty sure that everyone heard). I could just imagine Artemis punching Wally as hard as she possible could.

*Is he all voodoo-y and all like, 'bippity-boppity-boo! and like 'abra-cadabra?'* I asked, still excited about seeing real magic, not just lame card tricks.

*Yes, geez, Huntress. You sound like a little kid. And Abra-Cadabra is actually another magical villian,* Artemis said.

*But don't forget that Klarion is an extremely powerful witch. He won't be pulling bunnies out of his hat or anything. He won't hesitate to kill,* Robin said seriously. He was still scrutinizing the scene below us, like he had to memorize every detail of it (which he probably could do).

*Isn't Klarion a little young to be taking part in all this?* I asked, still eyeing Klarion. He had some kind of creepy magnetic pull to him.

*Aren't we all?* Robin said.

He had a point. We were all pretty young to be risking our lives to save the world, weren't we? And yet here we are, doing the Justice League's dirty work. I thought of M'gann and Superboy. Sure, they were probably older in alien years, but they were still teenagers on Earth, right? And Aqualad, underneath his leadership mask, he was still just a teenager like the rest of us. And Kid Flash, though he may seem like he's 12, was actually the same age as me. I looked over at Robin. Robin, the great Dark Knight's protege, couldn't have been any older than Artemis and I. That made me wonder how old Robin really was.

*Don't worry beautiful,* Kid Flash said from the ship, *I'll protect you! Kid Flash will - ow! Do you always need to fucking punch me every time I call someone beautiful? Are you jealous? Or - ow!*

*Shut it, Kid Mouth,* Artemis grumbled from the ship.

*Aqualad, if you bring the bioship to the right side of the building, you could get a clear shot of the Kobra-venom crates along the wall. Then you can safely enter the building while everyone is occupied. We'll take action right when you start,* Robin commanded. He seemed so strong and confident. How did he know it would work? How could he be so calm? My heart was already racing with adrenaline.

I furrowed my eyebrows in concentration. I replayed what the plan was supposed to be for me. I would jump down and attack Bane until Superboy came. Then I would run and destroy the leftover vials of Kobra-venom that didn't get destroyed from the bioship explosion. Robin would disable the machines making the venom, while everyone else just kept the villains busy. Robin was key to the operation, and we were to protect him at all costs.

*Now!* Aqualad yelled on the mind link. The large wall that the crates of venom were leaning against blew up. At the same time, Robin and M'gann projected off of the beam and into the flurry of flying wood and glass. The once huge wall was in pieces littering the floor everywhere. Dust flew around and the whole room was filled with the cloudy, hazy color of dust and blown up concrete.

I looked down, hesitant. It was a little higher than my old house that I usually jumped off of.

I gathered my strength and courage and jumped off of the roof and into the chaos that had erupted beneath me.

**Okay, so it was short and nothing really happened, but everything plays a part in the big Bethany Ford plot...**

**Love you guys! Stay traught!**


	24. The Huntress is a Badass

** I'VE REACHED 3.4K READS AND OVER 150 VOTES ON WATTPAD.**

** This chapter is just one scene, but don't worry, more stuff to come!**

**Bethany's POV:**

I jumped down, just like I had done a thousand times off of the roof of my house. I landed and then forced myself into a roll to keep the momentum. I ended up rolling all over shards of glass and pieces of splintered wood. My back was definitely going to be scraped up after this. I made a mental note to ask Robin to teach me a better way to jump off of two story buildings.

I used the momentum of my roll to bound back up and grab an unsuspecting Bane right at the neck.

My heart started racing extremely fast from nervousness, fear, and excitement.

I wrapped my legs around Banes upper torso and held the strongest choke hold I could do on him. He struck around trying to hit me, but I just held on tighter. Did Bane feel bigger than before? I did my research on him before we came, and it said that he could pump himself with venom to make himself stronger. Did he already do that? Because it felt like his shoulders were growing and jumping underneath me. I looked down to see that a yellowish red liquid was pumping through the tubing in his suit. Oh shit.

Before I could think of a way to destroy it, two burly arms grabbed me from behind and flung me across the room and into the wall. I hit it with a crack and collapsed to the floor, my cape billowing over me.

I looked up, the room shifting and tilting around. Was the room pulsing black and fading out, or was that just me? My head must have hit the wall. I looked at the wall and sure enough, there was a dent from where I had hit it.

"Huntress!" I heard someone yell my name. I think it was Robin, but I couldn't tell because there was a ringing in my ears.

Someone tugged me to my feet. Robin.

"Move!" He yelled in my ear. He grabbed my hand, familiarly, and tugged me away. I blindly ran with Robin, looking behind me in time to see Bane crash into the spot that we were just standing on. We ran back towards the others, but suddenly, Robin dropped my hand and collapsed onto the ground next to me with a groan. The next thing I knew, I was joining him. I clutched my temples and curled up in a ball, rolling back and forth. The whole room spun and tilted and I couldn't think about anything except the pain in my head. It stopped.

I looked up to see a grinning Psimon and behind him, Bane barreled at us. Time moved slowly. I looked straight into Bane's bloodshot eyes and realized that he wasn't heading for me. He was heading for Robin!

"Robin!" I screamed. He was still on the floor, rubbing his head, oblivious to the 200 pound boulder about to crush him. He looked up at me slowly, not processing what was happening. Bane was only ten feet away. 7 feet. He jumped and leapt into the air and was about to pound Robin when something knocked him aside.

Superboy!

"I got him!" Superboy yelled over the noise of fighting echoing in the warehouse. Superboy and Bane pounded each other back and forth, creating more holes in the wall and floor.

I looked over to see that Psimon was standing still and M'gann was standing in front of him. They were completely still, but no one was attacking the other.

"Mind battle," Robin groaned to me, like he had read my mind. He stood up slowly, still rubbing his head. I stood up with him and together, we raced towards the machines that were still piling up new vials of Kobra-venom. I looked, but didn't see Lex Luthor anywhere. Only goons, Bane, Psimon, and a very pissed off Artemis, Aqualad, and KF fighting a stupid Klarion.

Robin took the controls, his back turned to the battle. I stood behind him and covered for him. Two goons tried to attack Robin, but I defended him and lashed out. I used the new double kick technique that Black Canary had taught us last week and got both of them right after each other. Goon after goon came left and right like a never ending supply. I was struggling to keep up with the amount that kept coming at Robin. Embarrassingly, one even got past me, but before he could strike Robin, Robin threw a punch over his shoulder, without even looking, and hit the guy with surprising accuracy.

"Ugh, sorry, Robin," I called over my shoulder as I kicked a guy straight in the nose. Blood spurted onto my clothes, but I kept moving. I whirled around and punched a guy in the gut, with my knuckle sticking out a little bit to increase the effect.

"No worries," Robin said casually. His fingers were flying all over the controls.

"Robin, can you please hurry up?" I asked as casually as I could, although I was grunting with the effort it took to speak and kick at the same time.

"Done. Let's go!" He ran towards the bioship that was hovering in front of the huge gaping hole in the wall. A goon grabbed my leg before I could run after him. I grabbed his arm and twisted it awkwardly and heard him roar in pain. Then, without letting go of his arm, I kicked him in the face and then shoved him down. He was an unmoving heap on the ground. I bolted after Robin, far behind him because the goon had slowed me down. Robin made it into the bioship and looked back at me, waiting for me to get there, too.

We were done! We'd done it! Or so I thought.

"Not so fast, little brat," A high pitched voice screeched at me.

I halted to a stop. Of all the people he could have picked on to fight. He chose me. The most unexperienced, non-super powered person on the entire Team. Well, that's probably why he chose to fight me. But still! Past him, I saw Robin freeze, his eyes widening. He jumped back out of the bioship, ready to come to my aid. He must have known how unprepared I was for this kind of an unfair fight.

*No!* I told Robin, *I'm not going to fight him. I'll just - I'll be fine.*

*But-* He started to protest.

*Trust her. Do as she says,* Aqualad commanded. He, Artemis, and Superboy were running towards the bioship.

"What do you want, bitchboy?" I asked nonchalantly. I spat at his feet and grabbed a knife from my boot. As I moved my hand over my belt, I secretly grabbed some smoke pellets. I wasn't really sure how they worked, but I'm pretty sure they're just supposed to explode when you throw them, right? I grabbed three just to be sure. That should mask my plan.

He frowned.

"That's no way to talk to someone who's trying to help you!" He whined, "Join me, and then you won't always have to do what they boss you around to say. You can be with me," His whiny voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard and he even had the guts to wink at the end.

What he said caught me off guard. Help me? But my surprise was immediately replaced with a mask of ferociousness. I would _not_ have people taking advantage of my inexperience.

"I'm not going to fall for your mind games!" I shouted as I threw the gas pellets at Klarion and immediately, gas billowed around him, making him stutter and cough, his cat whined in protest.

I jumped through the cloud, my knife slashing around wildly. I couldn't really see where Klarion was, but I could only guess. I felt the knife shudder as it made contact with flesh, but I kept moving. I ran blindly through the gas and jumped into the bioship.

"GO!" I shouted, my voice cracked at the end because of all the smoke I had inhaled. Note: Don't inhale smoke pellets. You're supposed to choke the enemy, not yourself. Smooth, Bethany.

Immediately, the ship took off at a rapid speed, my feet were still hanging out. Wally came and helped me into the ship. I noticed that he had a limp.

"Here you go, beautiful," He said, giving a wink and a smile.

I stole a glance back at the scene that we left behind. Klarion was standing in the middle of smoking ruins of what was left of the warehouse. His arm had blood dripping down, but he still managed to continue stroking his cat disapprovingly.

He called after me, "Have it your way! But just know, I warned you!" His voice faded away as we reached a higher speed and his figure receded as the bioship door closed, ensuring my safety.

**Stay traught guys! Go vote, comment, follow, whatever.**


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